Little Al of Hidingland
by Treyen
Summary: Years ago Hidingland was overtaken by an evil wizard who imprisoned the rightful ruler into a place no one knew. Now one person has appeared with the hints of his whereabouts. AU. Based on a Finnish fairytale.
1. Part 1 Hidingland

**Little Al of Hidingland**

**Part 1/20**

**Prologue**

**Hidingland**

Once upon a time there was a large and beautiful country known as Hidingland. The Echoing Mountain rose in its centre, and in the shade of the mountain laid the Valley of Happiness. A multitude of bright, little streams ran through the valley, and a salty wind from the sea blew through the Maze Isles and reached the towns and villages. All the residents of Hidingland were happy donkeys, hard-working dogs and kind cats. They lived in their small homes, flew colourful little flags and worked on fields, in kennels and in purring houses. Every Sunday they all gathered in the castle grounds with their Donkey Lord Edelstein and Donkey Lady Héderváry to sing and dance, and everyone had their own straw hat on their head. Until...

Yes.

Until a naughty mule wizard moved onto a faraway island, the Secret Isle: Gilbert Beilschmidt the Awesome. Gilbert had many cunning (albeit a little lazy) foxes to serve him, and together they used binoculars to spy on the people of Hidingland, only to see that everyone was happy. And since they were so mean, that was something unacceptable and they grew angry and jealous. They knitted themselves some smiling donkey masks so that no one would recognise them, and that night they rowed through the Maze Isles to Hidingland where the wizard Beilschmidt then poured beer into every stream in the country.

But it wasn't just any beer. It was made to make everyone fall fast asleep when they drew water from the rivers to drink.

They sneaked into the castle by making all the guards fall asleep with their beer, and they even made the donkey lord taste some of it...

And whoops.

Immediately Lord Edelstein fell asleep.

Then the mule wizard Beilschmidt and his foxes captured Lord Edelstein, tying him up securely – even tying his ears – and they then took him far away to the Secret Isle.

But the Donkey Lady Héderváry escaped and Beilschmidt couldn't find her anywhere.

Near the sea, on the Secret Isle, the Donkey Lord Edelstein was imprisoned alone without anyone knowing where he was. But there was something the servant foxes had accidently forgotten to take away from him: his straw hat. With a sharp piece of charcoal, he wrote under the hat's brim:

_Help. The lord is on the Secret Isle._

Then he pressed his seal beside the text and threw the hat out of the tower window. A gust of wind caught the hat and it flew far over the sea until it disappeared from sight.

"Someone please find it..." wished the donkey lord, thinking about the donkey lady and his people. Leaning on the frame of the lonely, small window of the room, he waited and waited and became very sad.

The people of Hidingland were also sad as the mule Gilbert was a poor ruler who sat all day in his castle eating ice cream (and pancakes on some occasions) and his fox servants patrolled the country so that everyone would obey him. Beilschmidt wasn't satisfied with anything as he couldn't find Lady Héderváry anywhere. Not even after the foxes had turned every rock and hole in Hidingland upside down searching for her. At this, Gilbert became so furious that even his servants lost their tempers. The townsfolk had to play guitar to the wizard all the time to keep him satisfied. But since they were sad, the music was sad. Gilbert got angry again and told the foxes to play.

But that was a bad idea because they couldn't play. At all. It was a miracle the guitars didn't break. Gilbert's long ears got tangled and he lost his temper again.

"Shut it!"

And he became a little more furious.

And so, many years passed and everything in Hidingland went awry and no one had fun anymore.

* * *

But high in the shelter of the Echoing Mountain, Mother Donkey and Little Donkey Al and Puppy Matt lived in a little cottage in the middle of a field of poppies. They were so poor that Little Al and Puppy Matt didn't even have straw hats of their own. They drank clear spring water from the well and ate red tomatoes from their own little greenhouse and Matt searched for bones from the mountainside.

Every morning, Little Al and Matt played hide-and-seek among the poppies, and every evening Little Al wanted to hear stories about Hidingland and the mule wizard and the donkey lord. And every day he said:

"Let's go have an adventure."

But his mother said, "No."

Because adventuring was very dangerous.

Every night, Little Donkey Al dreamt about the other corners of Hidingland.

Then, one night, a huge storm struck upon the Echoing Mountain. Thunder rumbled and lightning lit up the sky, and a strong wind suddenly blew in through the window and–

Whoops!

A big straw hat landed on Little Al's pillow. Everyone woke up and looked at the hat, and in the flash of a lightning bolt they could see the seal of the Donkey Lord.

Mother Donkey was so surprised that she read aloud the message written on the hat.

"Hurray! We'll save him!" shouted Al, jumping out of bed and hitting his hooves on the floor.

But Mother Donkey answered, "No."

"But Mother–"

"_No_, Al."

"_Mother_! It's not heroic to ignore a request from someone in need!"

Matt sighed.

So did their mother. "Al, enough of that. The answer is NO. Is it the N or the O you can't fathom? It's a mission for adult donkeys," she explained, and tucked Al and Matt into bed. "Now we'll go back to sleep. Goodnight, my boys."

But Little Al's ears swayed for a long time after those words, and when he finally slept, he dreamt of a big straw hat that sailed to a faraway island.

The morning came.

And then another morning.

On the third morning, Mother Donkey couldn't find Little Al or Matt or the straw hat anywhere. She looked everywhere and was very worried. She prayed that they would just be playing hide-and-seek again, but she couldn't find anyone, not even after searching amongst the poppies. Finally, she found two sticks crossed on the footpath that went down the hill to the village and she knew then that they had both left to rescue the donkey lord from his prison.

"Oh, what should I do now?" she asked the poppies, but they didn't answer and only swayed silently in the morning breeze.

So she took her scarf to cover her head, grabbed her little bag and locked the door of the cottage...

And what happened then?

You'll find out next time...

* * *

A/N: The original story: Piilomaan Pikku-Aasi by Lea Pennanen. Rather unknown, some dozen years old fairytale about a brave little donkey who wants to be a hero (to but it frankly). I'll give the original author high regards for this story and won't ever claim I own it. I myself love this story, so I'm now sharing it with you: fusioned with Hetalia. =) I know the idea is a bit odd, but I dare say this isn't the weirdest thing one can encounter in fanficnet...

About the original story: I'll be writing something about the original story (in short OS) after each chapter. This is because I know no one has actually read it (or seen it since there is also an animated version). If someone has, please contact me, I promise to be surprised.

I wrote this based on the animated version which is slightly shorter than the book. There are two reasons for this: 1. I know the animated version better, and 2. There were some things in the book I didn't want to do, for example I can skip the part where America is singing to Prussia (something I so didn't want to write...)

Now:

Firstly, please understand that this is a tale meant for children, but can be enjoyed by anyone. There even might be some things frightening to the youngest, but I do doubt so young kids actually read this. I was worried about the story being too predictable, but my beta, Hazel, assured me it's not (I just hope she's right -.-,)

Secondly, I must tell you that the villain, here Prussia, is not going to be a typical fairytale-evil-witch. I won't let that happen 'cause I like Prussia too much (making him a villain makes my heart ache in the first place -.-,). The OS villain, Muuli Mukkelis, is way worse than Prussia is here, let's just say he's exactly the kind of person even a child knows immediately is a bad person and knows to hate him from the very beginning. Also OS maincharacter, Pikku-Aasi (literally Lil'-Donkey), here America, and his closest companion, the puppy Korppu (Rusk), here Canada, are both also slightly different but I tell you about that more specifically when that moment comes. o/

And thirdly: The story only started so I can't really tell you anything without revealing something crucial. Only: Almost every character is going to appear in the story, but not all have their names mentioned. Have fun time trying to find out who is who, I'll reveal every fusion in the A/N after the epilogue. Until then: Please read and go to an adventure with a little hero co. =)

My deepest thanks and apologies to my beta, Hazel, who promised to help me with this as well and has endured me all this time.


	2. Part 2 The Pitchblack Cat

**Part 2/20 A Pitch-black Cat**

When Little Al and Matt had secretly - and with a lot of trouble - gone down from the Echoing Mountain, they arrived at a green meadow near the walls of the town.

"I see," said Al, and sat down on the grass with the straw hat on his head. "So that's Hubbub Town that Mother always talks about. We'll go there and save the donkey lord from the Secret Isle in no time."

"Shh," said Puppy Matt, and smelt the wind. "We must be extra careful; it smells like fox here...and their anaesthesia beer too. You remember what Mother said, right? If you drink the fox's beer you'll become sleepy and lazy."

"I remember," Al said, and pressed the hat down to cover his eyes. "No beer or anything else made by foxes. We'll go straight to the Secret Isle. Islands are in the water and water is in the sea and we can find the sea by going through Hubbub Town. Sounds simple enough, don't you think, Matt? Though there are many roads and no one knows which one is the right one, or even where the Secret Isle is. I think that's why it's called Secret..." He trailed off and cleaned his hooves on a patch of grass.

"What do you think?" asked Matt. "What will Mother say when she realises we left without saying anything and in secret?"

"Krhmm..." Little Al cleared his throat and raised the hat so he could see. "I think Mother will first get a little... nervous. But then she'll remember what brave little donkeys there are in the world."

"We can still turn back," Matt suggested, and looked his right forepaw.

"Never!" Al shouted, jumping to his feet. "I'll save the donkey lor—"

"Quiet!" Matt whined, glancing around, but to their luck there was no one to hear, so they continued their journey again.

After a little while, they found a notice board which said:

"Do not laugh at Mule Lord Beilschmidt."

And soon after, they came to another one which said:

"Mule Beilschmidt is an awesome donkey."

"What?" screamed Al in fury. "A mule is supposed to be a donkey? And that jerk has captured the donkey lor—"

"Oh please quiet down," the puppy begged, grabbing Al's muzzle with his forepaws. "Be careful, Al... really, it smells like fox everywhere. And the bushes have ears too."

"Oh, right," Little Al answered, vexed, massaging his muzzle and wagging his tail furiously. "But I'm mad. Really mad. Just so you know."

They continued again. But Little Al was so angry thinking about Gilbert Beilschmidt that he stomped his hooves and kicked pebbles out of his way and–

Snap!

Went one little rock...

And it flew into a third message board, which said:

"100 more steps to Hubbub Town. No admittance without a hat."

"At last!" shouted Al, and the hat was again covering his eyes as it was too big. "At last I can go and pick a fight with that mule!"

"But I have no hat, remember," Matt reminded him, pressing his paws to the other's muzzle again. And then...

Then they started to hear rattling from the path behind them.

"Hide," whispered Matt, pulling Little Al backwards into the bushes by grabbing the donkey's tail.

From around the bend appeared a blue wheelbarrow pushed by a pitch-black cat. In the wheelbarrow they saw two big barrels and between them slept a lazy fox guard, who had a big liquorice cigar in his mouth.

"It's the anaesthesia beer," whispered Matt in the donkey's ear.

"Ahaha, that tickles!" chuckled Al, jumping to his feet.

The black cat startled, frightened by the sudden voice and appearance. He let go of the cart and...

Splash!

The barrels fell over, tipping their contents onto the fox guard.

"You stupid! Chinese! Feline!" the wet guard raged, trying to stumble back to his feet. "You'll pay for this three times over! And you'll buy me a new cigar!"

Suddenly, Little Donkey Al tumbled down to the path in front of the fox and...

Bang!

They both now lay on the ground with their bottoms in the air, legs and tails tangled together. The black cat jumped into the bushes for safety.

"What's the meaning of this?" the cigar-smoking fox demanded. "If this means more work for me, I'll–"

"Beer!" Al cheered, and before the angry fox could close his mouth, a big drop of beer was dripped onto his tongue from between the donkey's hooves.

"Glup," said the fox, and accidently swallowed. Then he peacefully closed his eyes, stretched his tail and drifted off into a deep sleep, snoring so loudly that the ground actually shook.

Now Matt finally emerged from the bushes. "Oh, a hundred hooves and a thousand dog paws, Al, you're out of your mind... what do we do now?"

"We'll go quickly to Hubbub Town," answered Al simply. "You can borrow the hat of the guard. He doesn't need it anymore since he's having a nice nap."

"What about me?" asked a fuzzy voice from the bushes. "I don't dare push those carts again."

"Hnh..." replied Little Al, and he thought for a while. "Come with us to Hubbub Town."

But the cat hesitated. "They might catch me..."

Suddenly, the wind whisked Al's straw hat from his head. Matt and the pitch black cat ran to catch it, but the cat was quicker. He saw the lord's seal, and in the blink of an eye the black feline stopped dead. Matt growled, but then the cat suddenly bowed deeply in front of Little Al.

"You have _his_ hat..." The cat spoke like he was afraid his voice would break if he wasn't careful. "I'll come with you wherever you want. I'll be your friend forever. You are my hero, little donkey!"

He gave the hat back to Al.

"Hmh... A hero, well... That's not half bad..." Al smiled benevolently. "Let's go then."

As the cat told them a little about himself ("What?" Al was startled. "I thought you were a girl!" The cat named Yao hissed at this), they approached the town gates wearing their hats. Just as the lazy-looking guard who had a rifle on his back had opened the door, Al said. "And here we go to save the donkey l—"

"Quiet!" howled Matt desperately, and once again slapped his paw over his brother's muzzle.

But the guard was already interested, and the laziness of his movements was gone as he fingered his gun, asking, "What was it you said?"

"Eh... nothing," answered Little Al, and, with that said, all three of them dashed into the town, running faster than they thought they could.

"Stop! Stop, stooop!"

And what happened then?

You'll find out next time...

* * *

A/N: I'll update when I feel like it, but since the story is ready and just needs to be proofread I'll sent one chapter per week in minumum, but probably more.

(Not much) about chapter two:

Probably because this is a children's tale the aneasthesia _beer_ is originally _juice_: I changed it because of Prussia. The 'hero' thing is in the OS as well. When I chose the characters this was a crucial element that made me choose America our main character.

You were also introdused to three new characters:

The pitch-black cat (China): You will surely learn more about him if you just continue following the story. Why Little Al confuses him as a girl is that the OS character is a feline and I had to change the gender. (Also the first time I ever saw China in the anime I thought he was a girl as well). She's kinda the brains of the three, so let's see how China can pull that of.

the cigar-smoking fox: in the OS this is his only appeareance and he smokes a liquorice pipe. (Liquorice, because this still is a fairytale XD). His line "You stupid! Chinese! Feline!" was hard to to translate because in the OS he uses a word I honestly can't translate ("kepuli" = "a crook" maybe?). Note that he as well thinks China is a girl :P

The guard fox: you will later meet him better.

More new characters in the next chapter o/


	3. Part 3 A Hotel of Delights and Swindling

**Part 3/20**

**A Hotel of Delights and Swindling**

Little Al, Matt and Yao ran as quickly as possible from the gates to the narrow streets of Hubbub Town.

"Stop! Stoooop!" roared the angry guard at them, swinging his rifle above his head.

But the three friends only raised their speed, and soon they disappeared into the hubbub that the town was named after. They ran so fast that their tails had a hard time keeping up with them, and they finally came to the front of a large building, all totally out of breath. A sign above the entrance read:

"Hotel of Delights and Swindling. Please enter."

The three of them quickly sidled inside, entering a great hall that was all hustle and bustle. Carousels spun, swings swung, music danced in the air and some toy cars whirred amongst the crowd. Red-tailed foxes were standing on guard near the walls (though they didn't look particularly inspired) and they also sold ice cream, beer and pancakes to every guest who came close enough.

"Be really careful in here. Don't eat anything," warned Yao quietly, still out of breath. "The whole place is only for cheating and getting drunk."

"So why did we come here in the first place?" asked Al, vexed in the press of the animals around him as the black cat led them forwards, hiding in the crowd.

"Because," answered Yao, "you need help. And my friends are here somewhere – they might be able to help us. They have a secret lift under the ping pong table," he continued walking forwards and searched rapidly with his eyes for his target. "We must find it quickly. Search for it. Keep your eyes and ears alert."

Precisely half a second after he had finished speaking, a bell rang above them, informing all the customers that a sled was about to leave and they should hurry if they wanted a ride. But no one seemed bothered as the stairs were pretty high.

"But I want to ride it once!" decided Little Al on a whim, talking to his front hooves. "Only once. It can't be dangerous."

And hippity hop.

He ran up the stairs eagerly.

"No, don't go!" Yao cried, trying to stop him, but Al didn't listen.

Little Al climbed to the highest landing.

"The admission fee is two licks of this _tasty_ ice cream," said a soft fox voice near his ear, and a big tasty-looking ice cream was offered to him.

The first thing Al noticed about the fox was that it was a vixen because it was wearing a blue skirt and had a very bushy tail, and the second thing was that, for some reason, she smelt like fish. Then he finally noticed the ice scream she was offering. Oh, how tasty the ice cream looked. And the scent...

"Ah..." said Al, and had already opened his mouth to have a bite when...

Splosh!

The ice cream dripped to the floor. Little Al was pushed onto the sled and...

Ring!

The bell rang and the sled dove down the slide.

"You bleeding idiot!" Yao screamed at Al as their speed reached its peak. The air was rushing in their ears. "You! Unforgivable! _Dumbass!_"

"Wait!" Matt howled from the bottom of the stairs, but it was too late. The sled was long gone with Al and Yao in it. They disappeared somewhere behind a high fence, and the little puppy had no idea how to follow them.

Matt was annoyed and worried. "What do I do now?" He wagged his ears. "Just great, eh? That Al again..."

"Maybe you'd like to have some delicious bones to chew," offered a soft voice, and the blue-clad vixen was suddenly there beside him.

_How did she get down so quickly? _wondered Matt in his mind.

"You could fish for some while waiting for your friends to come back," the vixen continued.

Matt thought about it for a while, wrinkling his muzzle. "Well... bones aren't dangerous for sure..."

"You can try it here," vixen added. "You can have it for free."

"Good," answered Matt, taking the fishing rod. "I'll do that."

"That's not how you hold a rod, sweetheart. Here, let me show you."

"Oh... thank you."

"Amateurs..."

"What?"

"Nothing." The vixen smiled.

Soon, Matt was skilfully fishing over the wooden fence and eagerly waiting for a catch. He caught something immediately. Something big and heavy pulled on the rod and Matt raised it to see what he had got. It was a truly beautiful yellow, juicy bone.

"Ah..." said Matt. He closed his eyes and... then he licked it.

At the other end of the hall, Little Al was thanking Black Cat Yao for dripping the ice cream on the floor. He was very angry with himself.

"I'll never eat ice cream again! Those damned... foxes! It's all their fault!"

"Stop complaining and hurry up," Yao ordered. "We have to find the ping pong table as soon as possible, and, thanks to you, now we have to find Matt too."

They started searching.

And they searched.

And searched.

But they found no one.

The hall was full of lazy ice cream eaters and beer drinkers. Finally, they arrived at a corner full of toy cars for everyone to play with. Quickly, they jumped into a fast black car and drove through the crowd towards the slide.

"Hey! There's the ping pong table!" Yao shouted.

"And there's Matt," Little Al replied, and they ran to their friend just in time to see him close his eyes and mutter.

"I think I'll take a little nap..."

"Oh yuck," Yao meowed, his fur sticking up. "He's licked an ice cream bone."

Just then, a big loudspeaker in the ceiling boomed:

"Attention! Attention! The fox patrol is looking for a black cat, a little stupid donkey and a sloppy puppy. Don't let them escape!"

"Now that does it," yelped Yao. "They'll catch us..."

"Hey, I'm not stupid," Al protested, offended.

"That's not the problem right now!"

There was a fuss going on all around them in the hall, and in the hustle, Black Cat Yao and Little Donkey Al pressed down their hats to cover their eyes, grabbed Matt by all four of his paws and started to drag him under the ping pong table.

"Push the button quickly," Yao instructed. "It's right under your tail."

And so the young donkey pushed the button right under his tail. Suddenly Matt woke up and sneezed loudly.

"There they are!" shouted the Fox Captain Ludwig, and he led his patrol towards the friends.

Then two things happened at the same time. First, a big curtain that hung over the door suddenly fell down onto the patrol.

Whoom!

"Infuriating!" shouted Ludwig from under the cloth, kicking the curtain furiously to free himself.

But at the same time, the floor started to give away under Little Al, Puppy Matt and Cat Yao, and...

BAM!

The trapdoor closed above them. They sank quickly downwards inside a little space.

"What's happening?" Al panicked in the dark, holding his hat.

"Everything is okay," answered a new and calm voice from the dark.

"We're friends of Black Cat Yao," continued another voice that sounded like a girl.

"You're in a secret elevator that belongs to us cats and we're just reaching the base," continued the first voice.

And what happened then?

You'll find out next time...

.

* * *

A/N: I don't have much to say this time. In the early story you will meet new characters in almost every chapter. Everyone appearing in this chapter you will meet again later, especially Germany (is Germany serving under Prussia as odd as I think it is? I think I made a good job with Germany's character though...) Also in this chapter you can see hints of the story running off from the OS, which will be much more common later, since I tried to make the story more interesting and the characters little less OOC. Though one may notice this only if he/she is familiar with the OS, but as an author I feel responsible of telling this. I feel the next A/N is longer, since one new important character is going to appear...


	4. Part 4 Im Yong Soo

Warning: a slightly OOC character coming up

* * *

**Part 4/20**

**Im Yong Soo**

The lift raced downwards in the dark.

"What's the meaning of this?" Little Al demanded of the new voices.

"It means friends," answered a male cat in a calm tone. "We managed to catch you, our good friend Yao and the puppy who licked the ice cream bone before the patrol could get you."

"We know you have a very important hat," continued the female cat. "We recognised it immediately and that's why we're helping you."

"Basement level," informed a new voice, sounding a little bored.

A green friendly lantern was lit and they could now see all three cats.

Yao combed his whiskers. "Good thing Matt only little tasted the bone. You weren't careful enough." He glared the dog a little, but in a friendly and exasperated way. "Bad puppy."

But Matt didn't answer. He was so angry at himself that he sneezed again.

"We must continue," Little Al said, looking around him. "Who can tell us where the sea is?"

"Im Yong Soo can," answered the cats who ran the lift with one meow.

"You'd better hurry," said the quiet, dark brown cat. "Ludwig is going to come after you."

Without any delay, the travellers slipped into a narrow side street. It was already getting dark. Far away, against the dark blue sky, they could see an observatory.

"Let's go," whispered Little Al, and they sneaked out into the cool night air.

No one noticed how a silent shadow followed their steps one house at the time without letting them out of sight.

When they reached the observatory, Al knocked on the door.

"Get out!" answered a voice inside.

"That means 'come in'," Yao apologised.

"That's strange," Al mumbled, maybe a little offended. "To say 'get out' when you mean 'come in'."

"Yong Soo is very wise but he's also a terribly absent-minded person," Yao explained as the travellers stepped inside and started to climb a long staircase towards a light they saw above them. Strange machines lay everywhere around them. Finally, they reached the top step, opened the door and stepped inside.

"Good evening," greeted Al, and rattled his hooves. "Could we get some advice from here?"

"Mornin' mornin'!" answered Im Yong Soo and didn't even turn to face them. "You're bringing me some milk of course, aren't you? Good girl, just leave it there and–."

"Yong Soo," said Yao emphatically to the donkey. "It's me, Black Cat Yao and a couple of my friends."

It was now that Yong Soo finally turned to look at them. "_Oh_ it's you, Yao, old friend... what do you want? Sorry, but I'm in a hurry. Of course I always like to play with you but right now it's rare that I can..."

"We need your advice to find our way," interrupted Little Al, annoyed.

"_Oh_ a map," answered Im Yong Soo. "But I won't be giving you a map. I need them for myself. My calculations would be wrecked without my maps and that's always bad. You should know, Yao."

"But Yong Soo!" pleaded Yao, trying to sound desperate. "The foxes are after us and are causing mischief throughout the whole country."

"What foxes?" asked the scientist donkey, irritated. "What's that, why should I care about some foxes? That's _vulpes vulpes, _by the way."

"He's stupid," Al stated, more irritated. "He can't possibly be any use to us."

Yao tried to talk to the adult donkey. "Do you even know that the mule Gilbert Beilschmidt has stolen the crown from Donkey Lord Edelstein? Lord Edelstein is imprisoned and we all want him to be freed. Now we have here the first person who might be able to find him. That's why Little Al needs a map," the cat explained.

But Im Yong Soo seemed to have already forgotten their presence and wasn't even listening to them anymore. Instead, he was looking at the faraway sky through his telescope and muttering something that none of them could understand.

Al kicked the floor with his hooves, absolutely fuming.

Suddenly, Matt barked from the window. "Hey! A patrol is coming this way!"

"Hide quickly!" hissed Yao. "Luckily, I know this tower as well as my ten stuffed animals."

"Ten what?" asked Al, frowning.

"Forget it!"

As fast as a cat can think, they all hid.

Im Yong Soo didn't even notice them leave. But he did notice the foxes as they started to climb up the stairs, rioting on the way up. They pushed everything out of their way and broke Yong Soo's machines.

Finally, the Fox Captain Ludwig stood, paws on his hips, in front of Im Yong Soo. "So you're saying you don't know who Gilbert Beilschmidt the Awesome is! Not that I really care, but I'll tell you anyway. He's the supreme ruler of this country and under his orders we're going to transfer our beer supply to this tower, so you can just pick up your rubbish and go wherever you want."

Now Im Yong Soo got it. He fully understood. He rolled up his long sleeves, jumped down from his high chair and shouted. "So _that's_ what the mule Beilschmidt is commanding! Well let me show you just who you think you're mocking! Here you go!"

And before the foxes could form the word 'huh?', Yong Soo switched on his invention, the Gustpuffer.

Whooosh!

It puffed with a terrifying force and blew all the foxes and rubbish so far from the tower that they reached the doors of the Hotel of Delights and Swindling. Ludwig hadn't realised that he was so skilled at turning somersaults. Or that he had such a large collection of curses in his mind.

Cautiously, the three adventurers came out of their hiding place.

Im Yong Soo was still so mad that he ran around the room, shouting, "How could I not know? How could I not know that our good Donkey Lord Edelstein has been imprisoned? We must free him at once! Damn those stupid unsophisticated blockheaded foxes!"

"That was why we asked for your help, Im Yong Soo," Little Al reminded the scientist, still not sure if he liked the man's absent-mindedness. "That's why we asked for advice."

"Oh, good lord!" the older donkey shouted. "You can have every map I can give you. I'll teach you to use them straight away. Trust the scientist!"

So Im Yong Soo taught Al, Matt and Yao how to use a map. When they had learnt the skill well enough, the scientist stood up and went to the window. The others followed him and looked at the faraway blue sea.

"So he's out there somewhere," sighed Im Yong Soo. "I really do hope you find him. But before that, go the quickest way to the Inn of the Flickering Lantern. There you'll meet five trustworthy dogs who can give you a magical lantern. You'll need it."

"Why thank you..." Little Al shook hooves with him. "But how do we get there?"

"Brother Yao knows the way," Yong Soo answered, and he shook hooves with everyone else too.

"Aren't you coming with us?" asked Al. "The foxes are mad at you."

"No. I have the Gustpuffer. Farewell."

And what happened then?

You'll find out next time...

* * *

A/N: Korea: I feel sorry for all his fans, but be at peace, he's going to be far less absent-minded later. The OS character is worse, much much worse. I couldn't really change the character without it affecting the whole chapter. When I got the story rolling I could make this more hetalia-like, so the beginning is a little slow and the chapters are shorter. But the next part will already be a step to the better.

Translations: Finns may understand my hardships of trying to translate words like "Vihuripuhuri" (Gustpuffer) or "Hotelli huvitus-huiputus" (Hotel of Delights and Swindling). More is to come. The upcoming song may be the worst...

One more thing, because I realised something: I _suck _at making summaries. I knew I don't like it. But I just realised how hopeless I'm with it... My apologies.

To my Beta: Thank you for standing me.

I don't have betad chapters ready right now, so it will be must up to Hazel when the next chapter is on. o/


	5. Part 5 The Inn of the Flickering Lantern

**Part 5/20**

**The Inn of the Flickering Lantern**

"Come on!" said Black Cat Yao to Little Donkey Al and Puppy Matt. "Come quickly! Soon the foxes will return to Im Yong Soo's observatory."

"And get their asses kicked again," chuckled Little Al, pleased. "I'm not angry at Im Yong Soo's absentmindedness at all anymore. That's a scientist and map-maker for you. But let's go now," the donkey ordered happily.

And without any of them noticing, a silent shadow followed them as they continued on their way.

Their journey went down a steep hillside, then right and then left.

"Jump!" shouted Yao suddenly.

"Where?" asked Al, puzzled.

"Forwards, just trust me!" answered the cat. "Jump!"

Little Al shut his eyes, bent his knees and...

Hop!

Little Al, Yao and Matt fell down as one big cluster through something rustling and swishing and tickling...and then, after freefalling for a little way, they landed on something... soft and... well, rustling.

At first, Al couldn't see anything as he opened one eye.

Then he opened his other eye...

And then he counted his hooves. There were four of them.

Then Al counted his hat. There was one.

And then Little Al realised that he was sitting on soft straw and that around him, on the same straw, there were tables, chairs and benches. In the windows, friendly green lanterns were burning merrily.

"Oh, a hundred hooves and a thousand dog paws," said Matt, and he counted his paws. "Where are we this time?"

"Welcome to the Inn of the Flickering Lantern," said a friendly dog voice. "My name is Denny an' these are my friends. We jes got a message from Im Yong Soo that yer in need of help."

The dogs bowed to Little Al.

"We already know what business yer doing," said one of the dogs, who had a funny tuft of fur floating above his head.

"We'll help you in every way we can," promised a third dog, who had a small white puppy climbing on his back.

The dogs told them how the mule wizard Beilschmidt had come up with one stupid idea after another, and how soon there wouldn't be a single truly hard-working animal left in Hidingland, except for those who continued to fight against the temptations of eating ice cream or drinking beer.

"But there's only a few of them left," said one off-white dog quietly from the corner. He was holding some kind of bird that Little Al had never seen before between his paws and was petting it tenderly.

"But now ye've come," said their host, Denny, and he blew his nose**.**

"But I've got to go and save someone soon," said Little Al. "Why don't we look at the map now?"

So they spread the map out on the floor of the inn.

"First, you have ta get out of town," explained Denny the innkeeper. "There's only one way. You have to go there." He pointed to a spot on the map. "To that underground stream."

"A_ha_," answered Little Al. "Am I supposed to swim too?"

"Tha' ya coul'n' do," said one brown dog who hadn't said anything yet.

Little Al looked at him, waiting for a better explanation, but the dog remained silent and answered only with his piercing gaze. Al felt a little uneasy.

The dog who had the smaller one climbing on him explained the other dog's words to Al when he noticed that the conversation wasn't getting anywhere. "The stream is ice cold, but where the river begins lives an old donkey named Antonio Carriedo. You can go to him and tell him we send our greetings. He trusts us well, especially Den and Ice." Then he began to scratch his ear with his hind leg.

"From him ye can get the last boat that we residents of Hidingland still have," continued Denny. "And he'll give you further advice for yer journey."

"After you pass the underground stream, you'll get to the Beer Forest of the foxes," the dog with an unruly tuft of fur started, ignoring Denny's protest as he pushed the bigger dog out of his way to get to the map. "And that's a dangerous place. And then..."

Clop.

He didn't have time to continue as everybody fell silent and listened, ears alert.

"What was that?" whispered Little Al.

But they didn't hear anything else unusual.

"It was only a piece of wood in the fireplace," answered Denny, relieved. "Ye see, I was jes about to tell ye – before a certain someone interrupted – that I'm gonna give ye a magic lantern for yer journey. Ye see the lanterns in the windows?"

Little Al looked at the windows. "Yes, I see them. There are only green ones."

"Good," said the innkeeper, and gave him one of the smaller ones. "'Ere ye go, have one. What's magical about them is that when someone who wishes somethin' bad against you approaches or comes near, they'll start burning red." He smiled. "It's one of a certain someone's inventions."

"We're pretty proud of it," added the dog with the bird.

"Tha' way y'can always know who's yer friend," explained the dog who had scared Little Al before.

Then they all heard the noise from before again, and this time it was undoubtedly the sound of an old door opening.

"What was that?" Al whispered again.

"Relax. Look. The lanterns," spoke the white dog from the corner. "They're all burning green. It's okay."

But Matt ran to the skylight and sniffed at the air. "A hundred hooves and a thousand dog paws... I could count my fur backwards if that's not..." Matt wondered silently. _Who else could it be...?_

But Matt didn't ever have time to end his sentence.

All the lanterns started to burn bright red, and the sound of many pairs of paws started to close in around them.

"The foxes!" Denny yelped, terrified. "We can't let them find ye. Go quickly through the backdoor and try to get onto a quiet street. Find the old donkey Antonio."

By now he was whispering and pushing Little Al towards the small, partly hidden door. At the same time, the other dogs were trying to hide all the evidence that they were good citizens who didn't drink beer. When they were done, they all cuddled up together in the straw and tried to look like they were sleeping.

Denny the innkeeper snored a little and spoke like he was sleep-talking. "Hurry up now, hurry, hurry." And then he snored some more.

Suddenly, Al's straw hat fell from his head to the ground. He bent down to pick it up.

And at the same time, three big foxes fell through the ceiling onto him.

Matt and Yao stopped dead at the door.

"At last!" shouted Fox Captain Ludwig at the moment of victory. "I've finally caught you! You're messing up my schedule, you brats! Didn't you have a proper upbringing? No, don't answer that. Capture them!"

And so they were indeed captured. No matter how hard Matt growled and bit the foxes, they were all overpowered and bound.

"That's it. And now to see Gilbert Beilschmidt," the captain said, and they were marched towards the castle in a neat single file.

"Yeah, let's!" Little Al shouted back at him.

And so they went.

And silently, a shadow followed their steps without anyone noticing.

Frustrated and angry, the dogs in the inn watched them go. But they couldn't do anything to help.

* * *

On the throne of the donkey lord, dressed in a striped suit and eating caramels, sat Gilbert Beilschmidt. Twelve foxes were standing on guard on either side of him, and two of them were constantly waving huge fans so that only fresh air reached Gilbert's face.

He asked Little Al where he had come from and where he was going.

Yao pushed and shoved the donkey to try and warn him not to answer, and Matt coughed and barked to try and do the same.

Finally, the mule Gilbert asked cleverly, "Why are you not drinking my fine beer, you little donkey foal?"

"Because it tastes bad," Al answered, and then he lost his temper, starting to hit the throne room floor with his hooves. "And you're the worst, sitting like that on the throne of the donkey lord! A stupid mule like you has no right to order us around!"

"What...WHAT?" shouted Gilbert Beilschmidt, now absolutely furious. "This _rat_ is to be taken far from my ears this instant! Take him to the best guarded place in this castle! Under the basement storage rooms!" screamed the wizard, and the foxes obeyed. He pointed at Al and his friends, smirking widely. "You'll be my prisoners now and forever! Awesome, huh?"

And what happened then?

You'll find out next time...

* * *

A/N: About the Inn of the Flickering Lantern (Väräjävän lyhdyn majatalo): in the OS only the dog Denmark is representing speaks in most occasions, so the other dogs I made myself to get the other Nordics in as well (and since I thought they really wouldn't let Denmark do all the talking). And I so hate writing Sweden's speech. Funny since I plan writing some more SuFin in future...but I hate it anyway. Denmark and Norway are speaking a bit like that as well because they apparently should, according to sensei's drawings.

I also love the idea of the Nordics cuddling in the straw together...

Nothing more this time. Asking questions is of course acceptable. The chapters are starting to get a little longer.

Ps. Do you already know who is the one following them around?


	6. Part 6 A Donkey Prince

**Part 6/20**

**A Donkey Prince**

"Long live Donkey Lord Edelstein!" shouted Little Al in front of Gilbert Beilschmidt with all his might, causing the foxes to blow their fuses. Yao facepawed.

Quickly, Little Al, Matt and Yao were taken to a beer storage room, which was deep under the castle.

"And here you'll stay," said one of the foxes who they recognized to be the same guard that they had escaped from at the gate when arriving in town. "If you're thirsty, drink beer. There's enough for all of you."

They heard a loud _click _and the door was locked behind them.

"Oh... I was so stupid..." Al muttered. "But I just got _so_ mad..."

Matt sighed. "Yeah, we noticed that, Al..."

"...Sorry."

"Well... I can't say 'it's okay', eh?"

For a moment, the three sat in silence between or on the barrels, deep in thought. Then, suddenly, they heard steps approaching from the corridor outside the door, and some faint voices spoke outside.

"The guard is coming back," Yao whispered.

But then they heard a dull bang and something slumped to the floor outside.

"What the–?" Al started, hopping down from a barrel.

"Shh," said someone from the corridor.

"No," Matt replied quietly, confused. "It's not the guard. Look at the lantern. It's burning green... That means it's a friend, right? How... how is that possible?"

They heard the sound of the key as they looked at the door, waiting nervously. The door opened and the figure who stepped inside was a donkey with a veil covering their face so they couldn't see who it was.

"Quickly," whispered a voice from under the cloth. "Follow me – I'm your friend. Follow me."

Little Al took his hat and the lantern, and together with the puppy, the cat and the unknown donkey, he proceeded past the unconscious guard fox in the doorway and through the labyrinthine halls and corridors of the castle, finally arriving at a small door which led them back outside. The door opened, and the escapees were greeted with pale moonlight as they stepped out into the night. They quickly moved to a spot where they couldn't be seen from the castle, and then they stopped.

The three adventurers looked curiously at their saviour. The donkey looked back at them, and after hesitating for a second, she took the veil from her face.

"Mother...?" whispered Little Al. He dropped his lantern and hat to the ground.

"Yes, little one," replied Mother Donkey, hugging her child tightly against her chest.

But Black Cat Yao had jumped high as soon as he had seen her face. He ruffled his tail and bowed so low that his nose touched the grass.

"I can't believe it was you of all people who saved us, my lady. Al, don't you know? In front of you stands the ruler of Hidingland, Donkey Lady Elizabeta Héderváry!"

Al looked at his mother. "Are you the donkey lady? Mother?" he asked cautiously in the courtyard as the moon drifted behind a thick cloud.

"Yes," answered Mother Donkey, and covered her face with her veil again. "That was the reason why I had keys to the storage room."

"But what did you do to the guard?" Matt asked, dumbfounded.

"The guard's name is Vash, and I hit him with my frying pan. I confronted him once before, years ago. But now quickly follow me before the foxes notice you're gone. I know the way to the hidden cave of the old donkey Antonio."

So, quickly, all four of them disappeared into the bushes of the garden. The three youngsters were carefully following the hoof prints of Lady Héderváry. Nobody said anything: Al because he was still so surprised at the new information he had just learnt, Yao because he was too incoherent after seeing his long-lost ruler, and Matt because he knew that they should be quiet.

After a little while of walking, they arrived at the underground stream that the dogs had told them about. It was trickling silently and sounded very innocent, despite how cold the water really was.

Lady Héderváry knocked three times on the glimmering cliff side. It made a hollow, dull sound.

"Who's there?" asked a cautious and slightly surprised voice from inside.

"It's me, Elizabeta," replied the donkey lady.

Immediately, a door in the rock opened and the group slipped inside the hidden cave of the dumbfounded elder, Antonio Fernandez Carriedo.

In the light of a red candle, Old Donkey Antonio just stared. And then he began to hop and dance around the cave, excited and filled with an overwhelming feeling of happiness. His age didn't stop him from doing all sorts of twirls and dance moves. Then he quickly showed the travellers where they could sit and started to bring food to the table, and soon they were all eating a full meal.

As they ate, Mother Donkey told them how she had long ago taken refuge in the mountains with a little puppy named Matthew. There Little Al had been born without knowing the identity of his mother.

"Wait a minute, mum," Al objected. "You always said I was older than Matt."

"Well, I lied," his mother answered bluntly. "Because you got angry and started crying if I told you otherwise, and when you two grew accustomed to it, I didn't bother to correct it later."

Matt hadn't heard about this either, and he shared a look with Al. But letting their surprise slide, Lady Héderváry continued with her story.

The foxes had been too lazy to venture as far as the mountains, so Little Al and Matt had enjoyed a safe childhood with their mother in their little cottage... until that one night when the straw hat of the donkey lord had flown in through the window. So, without knowing it himself, Al had taken the hat and left to save his own father.

"I've been following you ever since," said Lady Héderváry. "You're on a very dangerous journey now, son. And you're still very young."

But Little Al had so much blood pounding in his ears that he didn't even hear her last comment. He felt like his hooves were suddenly stronger and bigger than ever.

"So I'm a prince? All the way up and down? Tail and hooves too?" He nudged Matt in excitement. "Did you hear that? Matt! I really am a hero!"

"Oh dear, now it's climbing to his ears too," Matt muttered and massaged the part Al had pushed.

Little Al stomped his hooves and nudged Yao instead. Then the wise elder Antonio quickly picked up a piece of mirror from the corner.

"Look." He showed it to Little Al. "That's what the donkey prince looks like."

But unfortunately for Al, the mirror was twisted and was meant to be used for fun; the reflection showed the newcomer prince with flat ears and a fat muzzle and he was terribly cross-eyed.

So Al got mad. He stomped his hooves again and accidently kicked a water bucket on the floor and fell over. The hat fell from his head and the kick had hurt one of his hooves a little. Little Al would usually have become furious, but then he started crying as his leg hurt badly and he was so, so ashamed.

His mother quickly sat him on her lap and held him close as he cried.

"My son, Prince Alfred," she said softly into Little Al's ears. "A prince must not look down or nudge anyone. The donkey prince must remember his task. Do you want to continue this mission? Or do you want to return home?"

"I want to be a real donkey prince," answered Al, swallowing his last sobs. "I promise I'll behave from now on."

"Excellent," said Elder Antonio, smiling widely.

"But, my lady–" Matt started.

"Mathew, please," Elizabeta interrupted. "You have always called me 'mother', right?"

"Mother," the puppy started again. "If it's Al's father we're looking for...I mean, your husband... why did you try to stop him? Don't you want to save the donkey lord?"

Mother Donkey smiled sadly at the little dog. "Of course I want to save him. But, you see... I lost my husband. You think I wanted to put my son in danger?"

"Oh," Matt said, ashamed at his question. "Yeah."

"I would have taken the hat to some loyal people in the town so they could have gone to look for him," Mother Donkey continued, adjusting Al on her lap. "Or waited for you two to be old enough to manage by yourselves so that I could have gone myself."

"I'll save him!" Al declared, turning to his mother. "Mother, me and Matt will save him together. And Yao will come with us too. I promise!"

The donkey lady smiled.

"You must be extra cautious on your way because many temptations will hinder you," Antonio warned. "You're going to the sea, right? So you'll be needing my boat." He sat down to think. "First you'll be going to Beer Forest along the underground stream. After that, you'll reach the Mirror Mountains. There, the fox witch Kirkland will try to stop you. But I don't know how you're supposed to survive on a Kolkolkol Coast, where you're not allowed to laugh under any circumstances."

"We'll help him," promised Yao just as someone knocked at the door.

"Open up!" a voice commanded, and they heard the knocking again. Suddenly, the light in Al's lantern started burning bright green. "Let me in quickly, my telescope is getting wet!"

"It's Yong Soo!" laughed Little Al, hopping up. "Hurray, it's Im Yong Soo!"

Elder Donkey Antonio opened the secret door and Im Yong Soo flew into the room past his host and fell over in front of Lady Héderváry. Under his right armpit he had his telescope, and under the other he had the Gustpuffer. Slowly, he stood up in front of the donkey lady before bowing deeply.

" Lady Héderváry," he said, and bowed again. "My experiment was a success! I invented a telescope with the ability to look for nobility!"

And what happened then?

You'll find out next time...

* * *

A/N: Nothing this time. Questions or reviews in general are of course appreciated if you have something to say or ask.


	7. Part 7 A Traitor

**Part 7/20**

**A Traitor**

After Im Yong Soo had bowed once more to Mother Donkey in the secret cave of Elder Antonio, Little Al and his friends asked all together, what on Earth had happened.

"And how did you find my cave?" added Antonio suspiciously. "Not just anyone should know where it is."

"Well, you see," explained Im Yong Soo. "After you had gone, the foxes came back and started to squirt beer down into my observatory with a fire hose. All my experiments got soaking wet so I blew the foxes away again with my Gustpuffer."

Mother Donkey wrinkled her muzzle at the way he explained things to her still young son, but said nothing.

"Then I decided that I would help you find the donkey lord after all," Yong Soo continued without noticing the etiquette mistakes in his language. "So I put the nobility-searching-lens on my telescope and started checking every hill in Hidingland. Then I noticed you slipping through the rock and disappearing."

"So then you just picked up your stuff and ran straight to my cave, right?" asked Antonio to finish the explanation.

"That's right."

"And, of course, I can trust you to have made sure that no one followed you, right?"

"I'm a scientist, not stupid!"

But Little Al didn't listen to his last comment. "Hurray! You're coming with us!"

Then everyone made it clear that they wanted to try to look through the telescope.

But Im Yong Soo's answer was simple. "No. Only a scientist like myself may use it. Not even you, prince donkey, are allowed to touch my telescope – you'd just break it. It's _my _invention. But, say." He looked at the old donkey. "Do you have anything to eat?"

Immediately, the elder brought more food to the table, and, when they had eaten, they spread the maps again. In no time at all they found the quickest way that led to Beer Forest if they went along the underground stream.

"We'll go there first thing tomorrow morning, all rosy and golden in the morning light," Little Al wrote poetries to the air, excited about tomorrow.

"What?" asked Yao, but Matt silenced him.

"Ignore that, it's his hobby."

"Let's pack the boat ready," Old Donkey Antonio smiled.

So they all started to pack the boat with food and blankets and bottles of water. The maps were put at the very bottom, and they were all so busy thinking about the next thing they would need and so eagerly helping each other that they didn't notice that they were being watched.

A very small snout was following their preparations from a little crack in the wall.

"I see," said a voice from the hole. "So my suspicions were totally correct..."

Then it retreated quickly, going deeper into its hiding place just as Little Al sat beside the hole, almost on its snout.

He yawned. "Let's go to bed already."

"I think we should," said the donkey lady.

"Or I'll have no energy to be heroic tomorrow."

"Al, that's..." Matt started, but gave up, sighing.

"And tomorrow I'll hide the Lady Héderváry under Gilbert Beilschmidt's nose right here in the secret cave," chuckled Old Donkey Antonio, before adding, "And here we will wait until Little Prince Al has rescued the donkey lord."

"Wait, of course I'm going with them to save my r–"

"My lady, you are our queen and currently our only remaining lawful ruler," Im Yong Soo stopped her. "We can't have you running around dangerous places."

"But then Al–"

"Alfred will be just fine. He promised you that, my lady," the elder donkey reassured her.

Little Al felt proud again, but was interrupted by a very big yawn.

As they lay down on their beds, Yao mumbled sleepily, "I'm so tired I wouldn't be able to pick up the scent of a mouse."

"That's why we're going to sleep," answered Matt, before falling straight to sleep.

But Little Al's ears were still swaying with pride, and when he slept, he had a dream about a wide, sparkling sea. In the sea, there was an island from which he could hear a voice calling him. "My son... my little prince... help me..."

"I'm coming!" shouted Little Al in his dream, and he jumped into the ocean, starting to swim towards the island. But then, suddenly, tickling fox tails began to dance in front of his nose. And they tickled and tickled and tickled and...

"Achoo!" sneezed Little Al, waking up from his sleep.

In the centre of the room, among all the sleeping animals sat a little, mean mouse on the telescope, raising a nail above its head.

"STOP!" shouted Little Al with the full capability of his sleepy lungs, and he jumped from his bed towards the mouse.

CRASH!

The special lens of the telescope broke into a thousand little pieces, which spread across the floor. The mouse fled to the hole in the wall, laughing naughtily, and Little Al landed on the stomach of Old Donkey Antonio.

Chaos broke loose as everyone woke up and tried to figure out what had happened. Antonio was holding Al's ears too tightly and it took a moment before Little Al could explain what had happened clearly.

Old Donkey Antonio stopped dead. "Damnit! Now we're in trouble... no, we're doomed! The mouse was Gilbert Beilschmidt's gossip mouse, Feliks. Now we must leave at once. All of us!"

"All of us?" asked Mother Donkey worriedly. "How will we all fit in the boat?"

"We just must!" answered Antonio. "The mouse will sprint straight to the palace and tell Beilschmidt we're here! Now come quickly." The elder hurried, and as if to counteract his words, he stumbled on his blanket and fell over.

But Yao hissed in rage and scratched at the stone floor so viciously that little sparks flew into the air. "I'll never forgive myself for not detecting that mouse! Just what kind of cat am I?"

"Oh, don't worry, my muzzle was as tired as yours," growled Matt, who was also very irritated.

"To the boat!" shouted Little Al, and ran to sit at the bow. His ears were swaying again.

All of them took their seats, and the last one to come aboard was Im Yong Soo. The door in the rock opened and they entered the underground stream.

"I'll have my Gustpuffer work as our engine," said Yong Soo, and soon the gadget was powering them across the blue and black waves of the silent stream.

* * *

Meanwhile, as fast as his little paws could carry him, Gossip Mouse Feliks ran towards the castle of the mule wizard. He ran past all the guards and the sleeping foxes and stopped on the pillow of Gilbert Beilschmidt.

"Wake up, mule!" squeaked the mouse into Gilbert's sleeping ear.

Gilbert opened his eyes a little and glared at him, waiting for a proper greeting.

"Wake up, oh super mule!" corrected the mouse. "If you give me a total two kilograms of sugar, I'll, like, tell you where you can find Donkey Lady Héderváry, the pint-sized donkey prince and some other stupid folk."

"Whaa-at?" asked Beilschmidt, now fully awake. "Okay, you can have your sugar soon," he promised, and the mouse told him what he had seen. "AHA!" shouted the mule, and he hopped to the head of the fox guard, still wearing his pyjamas. "Now I'll catch them at last! Awesome! Go forth, my brave soldiers!"

And so a group of foxes ran after him, pyjamas fluttering on their way down the stairs, and they all ran out of the castle.

And what happened then?

You'll find out next time...

* * *

A/N: So in these last two chapters Spain enters the story in all his glory. I tried to keep his happy-go-lucky attitude untouched, but it's actually hard to make him fit with some as old as Aasi Isaskar (I of course mean the OS character =), who is, you know... wise and experienced etc. (a bit silly though, that fits). Well Spain will be hanging around for a while (to the end) so bear with this.

And to make Spain's arrival more exciting we have also Poland to entertain us here. If I translated the OS character name it'd be "sugar" (sokeri), which I myself find kinda cute. Poland was the one and only for this role (I mean a 'gossip-mouse', come on) and that even made some future characters more fun to make *hinthint* I actually have a bit of a problem with him because at one point he _disappears _from the story for many chapters although he should be present and I frankly don't think Poland would just shut up for so long. That's one thing I've wondering in the OS... I thought about him asking some paluzki from Gilbert, but it just kinda didn't fit in so I gave up that idea.

I'm shocked at how short this chapter is. I mean, it's shorter than the first one with which I had troubles making it longer than two pages in Word. Well, there's much dialogue... (that doesn't help much)

To my beta: Hazel, thank you for standing me so long time, I'm seriously impressed.

Oh by the way: please review, because it's really weird to see that according to the amount of hits etc. _someone _actually reads this and yet no one says a _word_. Excluding the one in part 1 *sends a hug* thank you for my one and only review! Yei!


	8. Part 8 What Has Happened?

**Part 8/20**

**What Has Happened?**

As the sun rose over the blue, red and silver hills of Hidingland, the boat headed by Little Al floated silently from the underground stream into the reeds of Beerland.

"Onwards," whispered Little Al to Yao, who was behind him. "Paddle, everyone."

So they all paddled and bent down as low as they could to hide from any possible guards. Little Donkey Al's long ears were pointing straight up and turning around, detecting every sound from around them. Silently, the expedition disappeared behind a sharp curve and emerged into the early morning mist.

But if we now jump a little backwards in time, far behind them in front of the secret cave of Old Donkey Antonio, Gilbert Beilschmidt was jumping with both hooves in front of Gossip Mouse Feliks' nose.

"There's no one in here!" he shouted at the little spy. "Where are they?"

"That I don't know. Duh," squeaked Feliks in reply. "I said I, like, knew where they _were_. And now, like, give me the sugar you promised me."

But just then, Fox Captain Ludwig sniffed the stones on the coast and knew where the escapees had run off to.

"Quickly arrange foxes to encircle them in the Beer Valley," ordered Gilbert, and Ludwig ran away. But to Feliks he said, "You'll have no sugar for lying to me. Get lost. You didn't bring me the right information."

And no matter how hard Feliks petitioned, Beilschmidt and the foxes just laughed and ran back to the castle to gather more troops (and to change their clothes).

But the gossip mouse had got angry, and he watched them go, swearing. "Fine, just betray your promise, Gilbert Beilschmidt. Now I know that you are, like, totally stupid. And now I totally know who I'm going to side with."

And as quickly as he could, he ran through the village towards the Inn of the Flickering Lantern.

In Hubbub Town, a huge commotion started when Gilbert Beilschmidt returned with his foxes. The wizard told one of his most trustworthy foxes (who happened to be the one whose hat Matt had stolen earlier) to write a proclamation:

"_Capture a stupid little donkey, a bigger stupid mother donkey,_

_an old grey donkey, a mad scientist, a black cat and a tiny dog!"_

"Gilbert Beilschmidt will give a chocolate castle, two kilos of ice cream and twelve days of slacking off in Gilbert Beilschmidt's own castle (and maybe even some pancakes) to anyone who brings them in front of the court!" the cigar-smoking fox shouted as he went down the streets of Hubbub Town, beating a drum.

But in the Inn of the Flickering Lantern, all the dog friends of Little Al and his companions sat, still sad and frustrated, around a long table.

"How could we help 'em?" wondered Berwald quietly, leaning his muzzle on the table.

"We can always occupy the castle," his friend suggested beside him, and caught his little puppy before it escaped.

"Yeah!" Denny said, inspired. "That sounds good!"

"No," said the three remaining dogs emphatically.

"Then how do we help them?"

"I might know that!" answered a voice from the windowsill.

With a huge jump, Berwald raced over the table to the window and caught Feliks under his forepaw, growling angrily at the mouse and looking ready to eat the spy and leave the mouse absolutely no time to escape.

"Stop, like, squishing me!" the mouse protested. "I have information for you!"

The dogs glanced at each other suspiciously.

Finally, Nor showed his sharp teeth. "Eat him."

"No, no, nononono!" Feliks screamed, trying to wiggle free from Berwald. "Totally no! Please listen! I know about Little Al and his friends! I really do! That's my trade!"

"Of course. You're a _gossip_ mouse," said the innkeeper Denny, still angry, and Berwald growled at Feliks suspiciously again.

"Little Al isn't in the castle anymore!" Feliks shrieked, trying to make them listen. The dogs stared at him. Feliks continued, noticing that he had bought himself more time. "He got out of the prison and has already left Hubbub Town!" Then Feliks told them everything he knew about Little Al's expedition.

Suddenly, before the dogs could react, all the lanterns started burning red and the cigar-smoking fox walked past the house, playing his drum and shouting the news.

"There, you see," said the mouse. "I'm telling you the truth. And listen-" He started to speak so quietly that the dogs had to gather around so close that their muzzles were touching each other. "-the donkey lady Héderváry is with them. They escaped to the Beer Valley and that's where the foxes said they would capture Little Al and the donkey lady."

The dogs were startled and remained frozen for a moment. Then Ice suddenly jumped onto the table and looked all around. "We must warn them!"

"But how?" barked Tino.

"There's, like, only one way," said Feliks, and the dogs came closer again.

"What?" they asked. "What is it?"

The gossip-mouse started to whisper so quietly that even the straws on the floor couldn't have heard the secret words that came out of Feliks' mouth.

* * *

At that time, Gilbert Beilschmidt was holding a big feast in his castle.

"Everyone, please enjoy this wonderful beer I have made for you. The ice cream is also free," he informed his guests from the stairs of the palace.

Young donkeys, dogs and cats flowed into the castle yard in droves. Huge oil lamps were lit and a fox choir started to sing happy songs for the party-goers. Mule Beilschmidt had his best shirt on and, playing the guitar, he sang:

"_Sing for the awesome mule lord!_

_Oh, I'm Gilbert the mule lord!_

_Hear me, I'm awesome!_

_Obey me, I'm awesome!_

Suddenly, his head guard, the rifle-wielding fox, ran to him, interrupting the song, and whispered something into his ear.

"What?" asked Gilbert, startled. "The beer faucet stopped working? What's the meaning of this?"

"How should I know?" answered Vash ill-temperedly, and he looked around, wondering if he could perhaps shoot someone for this.

"I see," whispered Gilbert, and he suddenly smiled eagerly. "Let's go and have a look then..." But to the gathered citizens he said loudly, "Continue please! Play! Dance! Drink! I'll be back in no time."

Then he, Vash and some other foxes disappeared down the stairs.

* * *

At the same time, under the pale moon, a grey crow with shaky wings flew through the sky.

"Honestly, Gupta, stop wobbling," pleaded a small voice in his ear, and the little paws of the mouse clung more firmly to the feathers on the crow's back.

Silently, Feliks flew on the bird's back with an important message, heading towards the Beer Valley of the foxes and searching for Little Al, Lady Héderváry, Yao, Matt, Im Yong Soo and Antonio with his sharp eyes.

And what was Little Al doing then?

You'll find out next time...

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the late update, we had a little problem which I'm not going to dig into, since I think no one is interested.

For this chapter, I've again a couple of things to say:

Prussia's song: I could have died while trying to translate it. Not for laughter or something, I just felt so stupid... (Especially when my dad showed up behind me in the progress and asked what was I doing :/). The song is actually singable with the tune from the animation, but that of course doesn't tell you anything OTL. And I didn't alter the words much, really, what does that tell about the character... There was another song I this fic, but I deleted that part from the story: Little Al sings the mule-lord a song upon seeing him for the first time, because he's asked to entertain him, but he manages to just piss him more off by singing the "national anthem". The idea of America singing his anthem and Prussia coming pissed with that doesn't sound so strange to me, though...

The Nordics vs. the dogs of the inn: I tend to make them appear a bit more badass they are, but I can't bring myself to blame the little badass-loving me for it (I like making everyone badass, okay). And who of you does not agree that Sweden growling is not intriguing? Oh, and the talk about occypying the castle wasn't in the OS but they just had to come up with something, right? And if Poland hadn't dropped by, they'd have totally done it. No matter how reluctant some of them were first, they would have definitely done it. (you catch my way of thinking when it comes to Nordics?)

And yay, Egypt \o/. I might get back to him later if I feel like it.

And one thing I should probably make clear because my beta was pondered it: Matt and Little Al are not brothers, but childhood friends. Matt is a dog, Al is donkey and no, Matt is not a son of Elizaveta and Roderich and therefore, not a prince. Matt's origin is not clear, but in my mind he's a son of some dog who was working in the court and when Elizaveta escaped to the mountains she took him with her, maybe to have her upcoming child some company. Or maybe she didn't want to leave him in the hands of Gilbert. Or maybe Matt's parents have died. Or then she just liked him. Up to you to decide.

To the end: Thanks for reviews! You're all making me happy. The hits have now passed 500, when I didn't think I'd get that many in the first place (we're not even half way through yet). One of my other fics just reached 1000 hits and I was like O_O!

And in the next chapter we've up with the Italian brothers!

Hazel, this chapter caused us both grey hairs, but thank you for fighting it through with me.


	9. Part 9 A Heroic Deed

**Part 9/20**

**A Heroic Deed**

The high reeds rustled a little as the boat glided along the underground stream towards the Beer Valley. Little Al led the boat to a little cove and it stopped on the sand.

"We can take a rest here," Little Al said, jumping out of the boat and taking the mooring rope.

Black Cat Yao and Puppy Matt followed him quickly, and soon the boat was hidden in the reeds and they were all sitting in the grass near the sand. After they had had something to eat and had rested for a little while, they took a look at Im Yong Soo's map again.

"There are many miles still to go before we reach the Mirror Mountains," said Old Donkey Antonio, eating his fifth tomato, his favourite food. "We should hike to a high place and look around a little. Just to check that there aren't any foxes nearby. This is a very foxy place after all." He took another tomato. "But who should go? I'm too old to scramble up a steep hillside."

"I have to fix the telescope," Yong Soo commented, and then added, "We'll be needing it later on."

Yao and Matt looked at each other. No one said anything. Lady Héderváry picked a little blue flower with her hooves and silently enjoyed the scent. Then Little Al put his hat on and stood up.

"I'll go."

His mother smiled behind the flower, and the cat and dog immediately said they would follow him.

"Be careful," Elizabeta said to her son, and pressed the flower against her chest.

Then Little Al, Puppy Matt and Black Cat Yao tied some flowers and weeds to their tails and ears to camouflage them, bent down to the level of the grass and started creeping to a nearby hill. When they reached the top, they hid behind a blue bush. Little Al raised his ears and began to investigate the surrounding grounds with his eyes.

"Look," he whispered to his companions. "Look!"

A huge beer barrel that had been hidden in the bushes was clearly visible from the point they stared from.

"That's an anaesthesia beer storage!" Yao hissed. "So it's here that all that laziness comes to Hidingland from every day. Oh I'll blow up that piece of–"

"Look out! Foxes!" warned Matt. "There are a couple patrolling around the barrel. We must be extra quiet now. That means you too, Al!" he added, whispering emphatically.

But as Little Al stared at the barrel and at the sparkling golden beer that it contained, he remembered all his sad friends in Hidingland. Then he remembered Gilbert Beilschmidt. Then he remembered the way in which that beer-loving mule had captured the donkey lord Edelstein, and he became so hopping mad that he stepped out of the bushes.

"What now?" asked Matt. Yao looked worried.

"Follow me!" shouted Little Al. "We're going to get rid of that barrel!"

And before his friends could do anything to stop him, Little Al was running towards the fox guards. "Out of my way! I'm going to a barrel tower!"

"No! You can't. It's forbidden," explained the other fox. "Ludwig would get really mad."

"What does it matter what he says? It's the boss who decides these things!" shouted the other fox to his partner. "We're here to guard the barrel, not to please that bastard captain, you idiot!"

"But he's so manly." The foxes forgot about Al. "Why do you think he's a bad guy?"

"Because he's fucking suspicious! And scary, god damnit!"

"Ve~? No, you should just get a little closer to him and..."

"Shut up! I won't! And you won't either! We've already been through this conversation five times today, you idiot!"

"But, brother..."

"Didn't I just tell you to shut up?"

"Ah..." said Al, not sure what he should do with the arguing foxes. Then he straightened up and shut them up, shouting. "Get out of my way! I'm going to inspect this beer immediately!"

Then he pushed himself between the foxes and climbed a ladder halfway up the barrel.

"Oh, so you're an inspector mule?" asked the foxes stupidly.

"My name is Alfred F. Jones!" shouted Little Al, reaching for a giant faucet and turning it as firmly as he could. After turning it and turning it and turning it, he felt the faucet lock. He took the key and then turned to the foxes again. "Get the hell out of my sight! Before I really get mad!"

"Yes, Mister Inspector Mule! Right away!" shouted the first fox, saluting.

"Stupid! It's a lie!" the other one shouted, trying to stop his brother from leaving.

"Hurry it up!" shouted Matt behind him, and he bit the first fox's tail.

The fox squeaked and fled to the hills, crying. "I'll tell the captain! I'll tell him you bit my tail! He'll come and get you! Vee-ee!"

"Wait, idiot, don't leave me alone!" The other fox followed him as he didn't want to be left in a situation of three against one.

"Well, that was interesting," Yao said, watching them go.

"Well done, Matt," Little Al thanked his friend. "Now, let's get rid of this for good."

He tied the hose into a knot and then started to make a hole in the side of the barrel.

"Oh, come on, let's go already," begged Black Cat Yao, but Al didn't listen.

"I'm gonna be a hero!"

"Oh, just great..." Matt facepawed.

Ignoring their objections, Al continued hitting the wood until...

Crack!

"Now no one will ever get drunk or sleep through the working hours in Hidingland again!" Al declared, and stamped his hooves on the grass, satisfied. Then he straightened up again and started to do a congratulatory dance to himself.

"Fine, fine, fine, but let's go already!" barked Matt.

"First let's look around," said Al, and he stopped dancing (thank God). And then he looked around. Far away against the blue sky, he could see the Mirror Mountains, sparkling in the sun. They were beautiful and didn't seem anywhere near as dangerous as Elder Antonio had claimed. "So that's where we should go."

Suddenly, they heard drums in the distance.

"It's the fox captain," said Black Cat Yao. "But he's far away."

"How do you know?"

"Cat's instincts."

"Let's hurry back," said Little Al, and all three of them started running quickly back to the camp.

But when they arrived, there was no one waiting for them.

"Mother! _Mother_!" shouted Little Al urgently.

No one answered.

"What on earth has happened here?" asked Yao.

But Matt was sniffing the grass where they had left the other three members of their group. "Come here quickly! There's something odd about this!"

"What is it?" asked Al. His hooves shook nervously. Then he sniffed the air deeply. A slight, yet clearly recognisable scent of roses filled his nostrils.

"The ground smells like roses everywhere! So has some flower captured them or what?" Matt sat on the grass.

"Stupid," said Little Al. "We'll figure this out right away. Barrel Patrol, follow me! Follow the scent of roses," he commanded, and they started to move again just as the sun hid itself behind the clouds. And, far away, thunder boomed. It was still fairly quiet when it reached them, but it was approaching.

And what happened then?

You'll find out next time...

* * *

A/N: Whee, where could have the others gone?XD

I don't like Hungary in this chapter, the real thing would so have gone with them. But I couldn't take her with them because of the ending so OTL

So, the Italys are bad guys. Just guess how much I altered this part of the story. But the thing with Matt biting the tail and them telling the fox-captain about it, is original and I enjoyed imagining it =) Deciding who these two guard foxes were was really easy, actually they might have made it to the top five in the order I decided the characters. Originally they're both more like Italy, so we could say the altering was Romano's fault for having a bad mouth.

Originally, Al didn't dance. I just wanted that there. I just did. Sorry. Also: do donkeys even eat tomatos? (In OS: carrots) Not that it matters, it's Spain and this is fantasy.

In the next chapter comes one of my own favourites =): The character number two in the order of deciding. This person lost just a bit to the very first. I think you're already hinted of who it is.

And holy sh-... cow this chapter is _short_.

Thanks to Hazel-Beka for the chapter again, thanks to all lovely people who have reviewed this and to all those 130 people who hit this story last Wednesday: you made me drop my tea cup. Thank you.


	10. Part 10 The Rose Tracks

**Part 10/20**

**The Rose Tracks**

As Little Al, Puppy Matt and Black Cat Yao intensively followed the rosy tracks through the underbrush, a big net was lowered down over them and they were pulled up into the air. Then the net was lowered again through rustling leaves. Down and down through the thick thorn bushes to a strange row of tall stone columns. _Strange_ being the operative word.

"Welcome to the Rose Castle!" said a high voice from somewhere, and a little blonde donkey appeared from behind a thick, white pole. "I apologise. You have been caught in the net and so you're our prisoners," she said to them. "I am Bel, a maid of the lady Francoise. You are now in the bewitched castle of Rose Lady Francoise Bonnefoy. Everything you see here is because of those stupid foxes. Two years ago they came to our castle, messed everything up and finally took from our nice lady Francoise hi... _her_ wand. One of them laughed and tossed it away and it's nowhere to be found."

Thus far the girl had spoken with a soft and steady voice, but suddenly she turned around and shook her hoof at no one in particular. "Damn them, I'd kick the shit out of them if he'd give me permission!" Then she turned to them again as if nothing had happened. "The wand flew upside down. Just look what it caused. The roses are dead, the ceiling is under our feet and the floor is up there somewhere. That is why Rose Lady Francoise doesn't speak to anyone anymore. She's just sad. And she checks everyone who comes near for hi– _her _wand," she explained as she tried to free them from the net.

_She's weird... _thought Little Al. _And just how much can she talk with one breath...?_

Then he spoke aloud. "But we don't have any wands. We're looking for my mother."

Though Little Al sounded worried, the blonde girl didn't seem very interested. "Whatever. I'll call Lady Francoise, however, to verify that none of you have her wand."

"Are you stupid?" Al shouted, offended, but the maid had already disappeared among the columns.

The travellers checked out their surroundings. There were roses growing everywhere, but their roots pointed up towards the sky. It was very quiet and sad. Spider webs covered the windows.

"This place is strange," whispered Yao. "This was something I didn't expect from our journey."

"Shh," said Matt. "She's coming. Be careful."

But Little Al didn't have to be afraid. Rose Lady Francoise was only a thin, tired-looking, sad woman in a thick, velvet dress. Like her maid, she was also blonde.

"Huphurlup," she said to each of them.

"What?"

"It's the word that activates the magic wand," explained the maid behind her mistress.

_Oh, she's talking again..._

"When you say it to the wand, everything changes. The roses will grow again, the floor will be on the ground again and the silence will break. The prisoners in the nets will be freed."

"But we're _not _wands!" Little Al said emphatically, starting to get mad. "Let us see my mother now!"

The blonde maid sighed. "Well, I think I must..."

But the rose lady just looked at Little Al with dead, sad eyes, and then turned around and left without a word, disappearing behind the pillars. Al felt a pang in his heart. Francoise Bonnefoy didn't have any life left in her features. It had already been stolen away from her.

Her maid looked after her and sighed again. "Well now you will act as our stakes until we've found the wand."

"Stakes?" asked Yao, frightened.

"Oh, it's nothing dangerous. You just climb into Lady Francoise's big flower pots and hold flowers in you paws and hooves. That way my lo- _lady_ will think that flowers still grow in the pots and her spirits might be lifted a little." She looked at them pleadingly. "Please help him to be happy again."

"Of course," Little Al promised. The forlorn figure of the rose lady had made his heart ache and he started to hate all the foxes and the mule lord again, just like he had when he had encountered the foxes with the barrel.

They followed the maid through two different halls and when they arrived at the third one...

Hurray!

There, waiting for them in big flower vases, holding flowers in their hooves, were Mother Donkey and Old Donkey Antonio and Im Yong Soo, who waved his glasses at them. And from all the other pots, more people appeared to say hello to the newcomers. Everyone hugged each other and started telling each other about their adventures in the nets. They all wanted to be freed quickly and also to help Francoise.

"We have to find that wand," said Al to Yong Soo. "We're losing precious time with this. We have to complete our mission."

"We'll all help you!" promised the other prisoners.

"But how can we do this?" wondered Little Al. "Let me think for a minute."

So everyone remained silent as Al let his mind wander. His thoughts wandered in the great hall. They passed the big pillars in the pale red light, climbed up the vines and finally stopped on a huge flowerbed.

"Are you sure that the magic words have been said to everyone?" asked Al, and he let his gaze wander along everyone present.

"Yes!" answered a choir of voices.

"Did you think of something?" asked Lady Héderváry excitedly.

"Maybe..." replied Little Al. "Help me out of this pot. But _quietly_ so the maid doesn't hear."

One dark donkey girl in a long, green shirt chuckled. "Well, if Bel catches you, you're mincemeat, so have fun hiding, little one."

"Thanks for the advice, miss," Little Al answered as he was helped out of the big pot. The green clothed donkey grinned and hit his shoulder lightly as Al passed.

"Don't go acting all hero, mister youngest stake," she chuckled again, and she gently pushed Al away.

Al glared at her a little, gave his flowers to Matt, who seemed to like them a lot, and walked quietly through the row of humming columns.

"I wonder why we have to be stakes..." he muttered, thinking about what the girl had just said to him. "Bel told us why but still... _stakes_... sta– A STAKE!"

It struck him. Of course, _stakes!_

He started running through the hall, searching every corner, pot and flowerbed, but he found nothing. Only in the far corner of the great hall did he find three stakes.

And when he said to the third one. "Huphurlup."

BAM!

Suddenly the whole castle was lit up by the sun. The ceiling decided to be the floor again, the thick thorny bush on the ceiling broke apart and all the big pots started rolling around upside down and up and down until they finally stopped in their rightful places.

"Are you all okay? Mother?" shouted Little Al in the chaos, and looked for his mother. Meanwhile, Im Yong Soo looked for his telesope. And found it.

And everyone found each other.

And the donkey maid Bel and Rose Lady Francoise appeared in the hall. Roses had started blooming again and they turned their petals towards the sun.

Al hugged his mother tightly and then went to see the rose lady to give her wand to her.

Lady Francoise was like a new donkey. Her velvet dress was sparkling, clear and bright, and she thanked Little Al with a smile. Al noted that the lady was truly beautiful now that she had no worry or sadness on her face. She gave Al a present: an invisibility cloak. Her maid's mouth opened to make a comment on the giving of such a valuable gift, but Lady Francoise stopped her gently and reminded her of how much the wand meant to her. But the net the rose lady kept herself. She said she was going to use it to capture every single fox that dared come near enough and would keep them imprisoned, waiting for the day when Hidingland would be in the hands of kindness and hard work once more. Her maid looked so happy to hear this (she could have her revenge) that she immediately started planning what she would do with the foxes when she had captured them.

Francoise smiled at her. "Yes, maybe I could have some fun with them too..." to Al she said. "I wish you luck, my friend. I already know how important your quest is. I recognised one member of your party immediately." She smiled at the donkey lady. "I see. A _mother_." She turned back to Little Al. "Please, take some of my magic with you. And when you sail on your boat under this cloak, you will be able to pass all the foxes without being noticed on your journey to the Mirror Mountains," she said with a lovely lyrical accent. "But there," she leaned closer and whispered into Al's ear. "You'd better be careful... the fox witch can be a little... hard to manage."

Al watched as the rose lady retreated out of their way, and everybody smiled at them and waved a goodbye and–

Swish**.**

Then the travellers were all under the invisability cloak and headed for the place where they had left their boat. But just as they took the cloak off, they heard a loud, commanding voice.

"STOP!"

And who was it?

You'll find out next time...

* * *

A/N: Who indeed...? I apologise for the longer break, my beta was busy. Anyway, here we are in the halfway of the story. Yei. Actually, since the up-coming chapters are longer and there is an epilogue, we're not quite in the halfway yet.

Anyway, in this chapter we had three new characters.

Firstly, (like some one already guessed, congratulations) the rose lady: France. Now _he _is the very second character I decided and that was just so easy, anyone guess why. His magic word is _very _original, because I love how silly it is ,') If I translated his title straight, it wouldn't be "Rose Lady" but "Rose Aunt" but even with France, that's... that's just wrong. He's given a bigger role in this version than in the OS just like-

-the donkey-maid (Belgium): The OS character is a nice and old donkey, or a granny, rather and she doesn't have a name. She's also not as talkative, that just seemed to fit here. And Belgium is messing the pronouns concerning her lo- _mistress_ in the beginning on purpose.

And the third, the green-dressed donkey, Vietnam, doesn't appear in the OS at all.

To my beta: Hazel, Thank you so much again, with a capital T. But remember what I said, da~?


	11. Part 11 The Chief

**Part 11/20**

**The Chief**

"STOP!" someone shouted loudly just as Little Al and his companions were taking off Rose Lady Francoise's invisibility cloak at the river bend of the Beer Valley.

Everyone was shocked.

Then, suddenly, Antonio snorted and stomped his hooves hard and charged forwards. "It's Gossip Mouse Feliks!" he yelled.

And then from the midst of all the muzzles and paws and Crow Gupta and tails and hooves and ears, Old Donkey Antonio sat up holding gossip mouse Feliks between his hooves.

"You little rodent!" Yao hissed, and came closer, eyes glittering maliciously.

"Don't flatten me!" the mouse squeaked. "No eating me either! I'm, like, totally your friend now!"

But no one listened to him. Except one of them.

"Let's listen to him," said Lady Héderváry, and she put the mouse on her lap and then added. "I know Crow Gupta from the old days."

Gupta bobbed his head eagerly.

"Gupta wouldn't hang around with bad guys."

"_Oh_... okay. Speak, mouse," Al gave in reluctantly.

So Feliks told them how Gilbert Beilschmidt had betrayed him and how the dogs from the inn had sent him to find them by flying on the back of Crow Gupta.

"There's, like, no freaking way you can continue down the river anymore. It's there where Beilschmidt has ordered the foxes to capture you," whined Feliks, and he blew his snout.

"There, you see?" said Old Donkey Antonio furiously. "That's what happens when unwanted chattering and evil thoughts are spread."

"Yes, I see," squeaked Feliks. "But I'm totally a nice mouse already. I'm on your side. Please take me with you, little donkey prince. I, like, even know some detours here."

"Well I could have guessed _that_," said Yao, and he hissed at the mouse suspiciously.

But Al had good feeling in his ears again. _A donkey prince... it's __me__**...**_ he thought with pleasure. Then he pulled himself together and said aloud. "He can come with us. Let's go."

But then a nervous chatter started to spread.

"We can't go down the river anymore," meowed Yao.

"We can't dive under the water either," barked Matt.

"We can't walk or row," complained Mother Donkey.

And Old Donkey Antonio lost his last nerve. "Let's return to Francoise's net..." he suggested, and sat down on the sand. "Even the cloak doesn't hide everything."

"What wouldn't it hide?"

"Ripples."

But suddenly in Little Al's heart, a big lump of courage moved, and he remembered the donkey lord and everything the mule lord had done and just how many people were waiting and hoping for them to succeed. And at the highest point of the arguing, he suddenly stamped all his hooves on the ground and shouted, "_Silence_!"

Everyone obeyed.

Little Al raised his ears and said. "We must form a plan."

And so they planned. They looked at the map and measured distances and everyone had their own turn to talk (although Gupta didn't use his). And then they did it all again. And again. And yet one more time.

But all for nothing.

No one could think up a way to pass the fox guards and enter the smooth waters of the Mirror Mountains, from where they could go through a stone gate and continue their journey to another underground stream with blue and green waves. After that, they would reach the Kolkolkol Coast and sail over the sea to Donkey Lord Edelstein. Im Yong Soo had some ideas but they were all denied since they would all either take too much time and money or were just impossible. Antonio still wanted to return to the rose castle, but they doubted that the rose lady Bonnefoy was really in a condition to help them after her hardships, even if she wanted to.

Little Al felt depressed.

The sun set behind the blue hills of the Beer Valley. Some mist rose from the river. No one spoke anymore. Only Feliks sniffed in Elizabeta's handkerchief.

Al kicked the grass, vexed. Then he it kicked again. And one more time. And–

Bang!

His hoof hit the back of the boat hard, right where the Gustpuffer was.

Then many things happened at the same time.

"Pheeee!" said the Gustpuffer, and it started to run backwards.

The boat started to rise from the surface of the water and Im Yong Soo jumped to hold the fastening rope.

"T-t-ti-t-tie it up q-quickly!" he shouted, and in the blink of an eye everyone was holding the boat.

Immediately, the boat lowered a little, and suddenly they all understood. With this Puffer Boat they could fly over the hills to where the river rose to the surface in the Mirror Mountains.

"Hurray for Al's genius hoof!" shouted Yong Soo.

Feliks fell to the grass from happiness, and Gupta started flying in circles above them. Mother Donkey immediately began to pack the boat for their departure. Al was as happy as everyone else...

But his hoof was throbbing uncomfortably.

By the time the moon rose, they were ready to leave. Lady Héderváry and Antonio sat in the middle seat. Black Cat Yao was in the stern. Gupta, Matt and Feliks were with Little Al on the bow. The moon had risen high and it painted them with silvery light.

Behind them, Im Yong Soo asked enthusiastically, "Where are we heading?"

Everybody looked at Al.

Again, Little Al felt the happy lump move inside him. They trusted him. They really did. "First, we'll go to the top of the hill and scout from there. Then we'll glide quietly down to where the river comes out at the Mirror Mountains."

"Got that, chief," whispered Yong Soo, and he switched on the Gustpuffer.

Quietly, barely touching the grass, the boat rose into the air and started to fly towards the dewy top of the hill.

In the middle of the boat, Mother Donkey smiled in the dark. _Little donkey prince._ she thought silently._ You really are his son. _She hid her face in the blanket around him before raising her eyes up to the moon. _Dear... I'm coming... _

Nobody could read her thoughts, but she wanted to think that _he _could, if no one else.

The boat rose higher and higher. Down on the ground, they could see the foxes with their fires.

"Whoa, there're so many of them..." whispered Matt, looking down.

"Let them be," answered Al, and grinned. "We're going to beat them."

Then the boat landed in the clover field on top of the hill. Far away, they could see the sparkling, blue sea in the moonlight.

"Look," Matt breathed. "How gorgeous!"

"The telescope is fixed," said Yong Soo suddenly from under his blanket.

"No way!" breathed Al, and Antonio whispered something to Im Yong Soo.

Without an objection, the scientist handed the telescope over to Little Al. "Now, our little chief, be the first to look through the telescope and scout the sea for your father."

Al's heart beat hard as he turned the telescope towards the foaming open sea. First he saw only water. Then, in the middle of the sea, he saw an island. In the centre of the island rose a tower. And from the window of the tower, someone leant forwards to look longingly at the glimmering waves.

"I see him, there he is! Look, mother!" whispered Little Al enthusiastically, and was just about to hand the telescope over to Lady Héderváry when Gupta suddenly croaked in warning.

"Hey, look!" Matt shouted. He had also seen it. "There's a light flashing in the Mirror Mountains! Quickly, everyone under the cloak! Someone else has binoculars as well!"

And what happened then?

You'll find out next time...

* * *

A/N: From this part henceforth to the end of the story, starts the second half of the story that begins to slightly go it's own ways, although still following the main happenings of the story. I personally like the latter half of the story better. This chapter went relatively along the story, so I'm not going to say anything more unless someone is to request that.

In the next part, you'll be introduced to the character number 1 in the order of deciding them: it was the easiest and the most obvious choice and I also happen to like how the character turned out to be. If you've read the former parts carefully you may already guess who it is. There are also three other new characters coming up in the chapter 12 - The Mystery of the Mirror Mountains, so please stay tuned and review. A huge thanks to all who are already doing that: this story is more popular than I ever imagined it to be. Thank you.

Hazel: Congratulation for finding new friends, I hope you can stay as mine.


	12. Part 12 The Mystery of Mirror Mountains

**Part 12/20**

**The Mystery of the Mirror Mountains**

"Someone's spying on us from the Mirror Mountains! Quickly, everyone under the invisibility cloak!" Matt explained hastily on the moonlit hill near the stone gate of the underground stream.

In no time, everybody had hidden themselves under the cloak, and they waited without making a single movement.

But nothing happened.

Somewhere high up, deep in the bowels of the Mirror Mountains, in the stone chamber of the Wind Tower, someone turned around and put the binoculars down on a table.

"I will catch you," he said, and chuckled cruelly. "Just wait and see..."

After a little while when still nothing had happened and only the moon shone on the clovers, Little Al lifted the cloak a little and said, "I think we should leave immediately, Yong Soo. Turn the Gustpuffer on."

Quickly, everyone climbed aboard again and the boat silently glided down the hillside to the deep black waves of the underground stream. The boat slipped under the mountains and the light of the moon disappeared.

It was dark. Only some faint, phosphorous lights in the wall lit their journey. Al had covered his magical lantern so it wouldn't expose them, and he knew even without looking that it was burning bright red.

And none of the travellers noticed how, from the slippery stones of the coast, clear, sharp eyes and steady paws with claws at the ready followed them.

Feliks was shaking and glancing around nervously.

"Be careful," said the mouse. "There might be a trap waiting for us here in the Mirror Mountains. I mean, there's just no way there aren't any."

"The rose lady told me we should be careful here," Al said.

Mother Héderváry took hold of the invisibility cloak and made sure it was properly over the boat. And then something very unfortunate happened.

Just as Al was about to check which path they should take in the upcoming crossroads, the invisibility cloak stuck to the ceiling of the underground stream.

The cloak ripped apart and exposed them to every eye watching them.

"Oh, I see..." said the brightest eyes in the dark. "So Francis _did_ have something to do with this. Follow me, brats," he then ordered the other eyes, and they continued to follow the boat.

The travellers were vexed, and they became even more restless when the boat turned of its own accord into a tunnel, which glowed with green light, no matter how much Yao tried to steer.

"Honestly, be careful! This is, like, totally a trap!" shouted Feliks, trying to stop the boat by pressing his little paws into the ice-cold water. "He wants us here! He's coming for us! We'll never get away!"

"He?" Matt asked, but his attention was drawn elsewhere.

"Whoa, this is beautiful," Al said, staring with wide eyes and stopping rowing.

Everywhere around them, little red, blue and green fires created light in the tunnel, and the light was reflected thousands of times in hundreds of little shards of mirror that had sunk into the walls and ceiling. But their amazement was short lived. Feliks managed to shriek a desperate warning, but no one had time to react.

"Hahaa! Gotcha, little hiders, welcome to my kingdom!" said someone from the shore before stepping into the open from behind a pillar. Holding his tail with his other paw, he grabbed the fastening rope and pulled the boat ashore.

The whole expedition flew topsy-turvy over each other with the sudden change of direction. The boat listed and caught water. Im Yong Soo got water in his eyes so he couldn't see anything and Yao got his tail wet. The basket containing their sack of food dropped into the water before anyone could catch it.

Suddenly, something that felt like a strong wind but was almost solid grabbed them and threw them out of the boat, and they landed hard on the stone floor a great deal away from the river.

Little Al was the first one to rise. "Let us go immediately!" He ran towards the hole that led out of the cave and back to the boat.

Prrree-eee!

They heard a piercing voice and a rumbling, and a large mirror landed in front of Little Al, blocking his way. The river and the boat disappeared behind hard, solid walls.

Their enemy chuckled. "There's no use trying to run away from me, my dear little idiot. You are now prisoners of the great fox witch Arthur Kirkland. And did you really think you would be able to avoid my sharp binoculars, you gits? _I_ am the one who rules over the Mirror Mountains, and mountains are very loyal beings. They listen only to their rulers. Also, just so you know, I'm the best friend of the foxes too. And now, your journey ends here!" He laughed again victoriously. "I'm going to have the chocolate prize for catching you, yum yum..." He glared at Al. "And you, little donkey prince. You are not going to have my magic scarf."

"Why would he want a scarf?" Yao whispered.

"You think I'll fall for that?" answered Kirkland. "It's a shame, isn't it, mister prince, a shame... Now you've lost your chance of being a hero. And now you'll just obediently wait in this cave until the noble foxes come." He laughed evilly and called more mirrored walls down around them until the large cave was full of mirrors. "Now you can have a look at your pathetic reflections until they come to get you." He laughed yet again and slammed the heavy door closed behind him and ran to get the fox guards.

The expedition could only listen as the sound of witch's steps slowly disappeared. And there they sat, defeated and checking if everybody was present. Then Gossip Mouse Feliks noticed that Gupta was gone.

"I'm sure he went to get help," muttered Little Al, sitting next to his mother. "But I wish I understood why I should have a scarf... Though I don't think anything can help us now. I should have taken the warning more seriously."

"We were all blinded by the success we had with the foxes," Matt sighed. "This is the worst..."

Then suddenly, a small voice spoke. "Be quiet now. We are your friends. Long live Donkey Lord Edelstein!"

Silence...

"What?" asked Al, startled. He couldn't see anything. His lantern was at the bow of the boat, but he could tell without the green light that even here, they really had friends.

Feliks suddenly stood up and shouted in a voice full of joy. "Look! My siblings the chocolate mice are here! I mean, duh! We're, like, almost safe already!" he laughed.

All of a sudden, the whole room was full of small, laughing chocolate brown mice. Three of them ran straight to Feliks, who was with Little Al and Lady Héderváry.

"This morning the foxes took our home, the chocolate castle," one of them said. "They said that it was going to be a prize for catching the little donkey prince."

"Of course we'll help the enemy of that robber who took our home!" all three mice said in chorus, and they bowed to Al and his mother. They seemed to be the leaders of the mice.

"Eduard, Toris and Raivis, from left to right," introduced the mouse on the left, Eduard. "We will help you in every way we can."

"And Feliks," said the one in centre, Toris. "We're _still_ not siblings..."

"W–We'll tell you about the scarf as soon as we get you out of here," promised the third mouse.

"Get us out?" The prisoners were startled and came nearer to the mice. "How?"

"Like this," said Toris, and he turned around to order the other mice who waited behind the three leaders. "Come on, guys! Gnaw!"

The mice obeyed, and suddenly the whole wall at the back of the room was swarming with chocolate coloured gnawers and...

Critch!

Cratch!

Narsck!

And a gaping hole appeared in the wall.

"That was quick," Yao noted. "I guess even mice are good at something."

"Go through that, quickly," ordered Toris, ignoring the cat's insult.

"What about the boat?" wondered Little Donkey Al.

"We'll take care of it. I have some new technology that will help," promised Eduard. "Hurry up now, you can already hear the foxes coming."

Quickly, the travellers climbed through the hole. The last one to come was Old Donkey Antonio and–

Oh no!

He had eaten two tomatoes too many and got stuck.

"You guys just go!" he shouted bravely to Little Al just as they heard the foxes open the stone door of the mirror room.

"I'm not going to leave my friend behind!" Little Al shouted back fiercely, and he returned to pull the old donkey out as hard as he could.

But it didn't help.

And what happened then?

You'll find out next time...

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the long break. Now we're back in action and the story can continue. Thank you, Hazel, for that

So England was the #1 character I decided in this story. Actually this all started because I thought about him as the witch (who is actually a vixen but so what XD). He's longing for chocolate might sound weird hetalia-wise but I just find it kind of cute. It's his main motive and that is the same with the OS.

The three Baltics were also relatively easy to fit in their characters, though the chocolate mice didn't have any leaders in the OS. I've also decided to give them all a little more screentime than their counterparts have in the original story.


	13. Part 13 The Cleverness of A F Carriedo

**Part 13/20**

**The Cleverness of Antonio Fernandez Carriedo**

"Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up!" shouted the chocolate mice in chorus to Old Donkey Antonio, who'd got stuck in their escape hole just as Fox Captain Ludwig opened the prison door. "Get yourself loose, quickly! Little Al must reach Arthur's Wind Tower before the sun touches the magic scarf!" the mice fussed, and everyone pulled the elder with all their might.

But it was all for nothing.

"We haven't got time to gnaw you out!" Toris shook his head and tried desperately to think of something.

"Good. You just go," said Old Donkey Antonio suddenly.

"No," answered Al emphatically.

"But I have an idea," the elder explained from his tight position. "Listen to this..."

He whispered something to Al and then asked Eduard to help him out. Quickly, Al and the mouse waved him a goodbye and then ran up the stairs. Then the brave little chocolate mouse dashed from a small hole under Antonio's stomach back to the prison just as Ludwig opened the door.

"Now we've got you!" he shouted, and he ran towards Antonio's ass. "No, wait, we haven't, there's only one of you! Get out of the way!"

As he spoke, Eduard suddenly dashed in front of the largest mirror in the room (and slipped, but let's not notice that for his dignity).

The fox witch Kirkland stepped into the prison and was instantly alert. "What? Chocolate?" he sniffed the air deeply and continued. "I smell chocolate..."

Then he noticed Eduard and tried to catch him. But all of the hundreds of mirrors in the room showed Eduard's reflection, and Kirkland just ran from one mirror to another, trying to figure out where the real one was running.

But he couldn't catch him.

Meanwhile, Ludwig was about to lose his temper with Old Donkey Antonio as he tried to pull him out of the hole with his subordinates.

"St-stop! That tickles!" chuckled Antonio through the wall to them.

That was the last straw for Ludwig. "Tell us another way to go after them, you silly witch, or you're not going to have that chocolate castle at all! That stupid old donkey is blocking our way!"

"What?" The chocolate-loving witch stopped hunting Eduard. "You'll give me more chocolate?"

Ludwig rolled his eyes. "You'll have some immediately if you do this quickly."

"This way!" called Fox Witch Kirkland, and ran out of the room.

The foxes ran after him, leaving the chuckling old donkey behind.

"That's what we call a head start!" Antonio shouted and Eduard ran to finally gnaw him free.

The caves echoed after his shout. _Head start! Head start! Start...art...art..._

While all this was happening, Little Al, Matt and the others climbed higher and higher up the stairs towards the Wind Tower.

And when Toris shouted, "Look, there's the door to the magic scarf room!", they jumped straight into a huge pile of brown scones that filled the stairs.

"Watch out! It's Arthur's snack storage!" warned the mice. "Don't eat it, or even _smell_ it!"

They all pressed their hooves and paws over their mouths and continued hurrying on their way upwards to the door they saw at the top of stairs. When it was just a few metres away, they heard a familiar voice from behind them.

"Stop!" yelled Ludwig with all the capacity of his lungs (and that was something).

"Behind me, everyone!" ordered Little Al, and he turned to face the fox.

"You are under arrest!" continued the fox captain, glaring upwards at Little Al. "We're coming now, and we're _finally_ going to catch you!"

"Just come and try!" Yao shouted back at him.

"That we will do, but in good order." Ludwig turned around and started to organise his subordinates into a better line.

"Eh?" Matt asked. He couldn't follow the way Ludwig was thinking.

"Quickly," whispered Lady Héderváry suddenly. "Do as I do."

Quickly, she leant forwards and grabbed a big scone in her hooves.

"Forwards!" shouted Ludwig, and the foxes raised a huge cry and started to rage up the stairs.

"Now!" commanded Mother Donkey, and she threw her scone straight into Ludwig's mouth. The others threw some as well, and every fox had their own portion of Arthur Kirkland's cooking.

Ludwig choked on his scone and tried to spit it out, but even he couldn't stand it. The foxes all fell over, coughing, and most of them landed on the fox witch himself as he came up the stairs a little way behind them.

The foxes said, "Yuck..." and then fainted into Arthur Kirkland's lap, choking on the remains of the scones.

"You... _fucking_ idiot..." Ludwig cursed into the witch's ear with all the remaining stamina he had. "I told you to stop cooking..."

"The sun is rising!" shouted Raivis, and started to climb the stairs again.

The others followed, jumping up the remaining ten steps, Al in the lead. And just as the sun's morning light shone behind the hill towards the Mirror Mountains, Raivis pushed the door of the Wind Tower open. Al ran to the window and touched the scarf resting neatly on the window sill.

Bling!

A sunbeam hit the white scarf, making it shine.

They all stopped to look. Al carefully lifted the scarf and took it. The whole mountain was humming, and somewhere from the base of the mountain a beautiful fanfare of silver horns rang out into the morning, playing an elegant melody. Hundreds of snow white birds spread their wings on top of the Wind Tower and started to fly after a long time of staying on the roof.

"Look!" Lady Héderváry ran to the window and leant outside. "The birds of the donkey lord are flying! They're returning to Hidingland! They will fly to every roof of Hidingland and bring a happy message from the donkey lord like they used to do long ago!" She almost cried for joy.

But Im Yong Soo interrupted their joy. He looked at the valley with his telescope and wasn't so happy. "Little Al, there's a huge army of foxes coming this way," he said, and Al took the telescope to have a better look.

When they quieted down, they could clearly hear the drums that the marching foxes were playing.

And there was Gilbert Beilschmidt himself in his best uniform, marching at the head of hundreds of foxes and approaching the Mirror Mountains.

"We must immediately depart for the Kolkolkol coast," said the young donkey seriously.

"Oh, I see. So you must go?" said a soft voice behind them. "But I'm saying that you brats are going nowhere."

The fox witch Kirkland stood in the doorway of the room, holding and waving a huge bunch of keys in his paw.

And what happened then?

You'll find out next time...

* * *

A/N: To apoligize to **Sotnosen93** for not being able to find the OS in English anywhere so one could compare these, a few main notes about this and the previous chapter. First about the 13th, which goes relatively along the OS compared to some other chapters:

England's scones: Originally ice scream that makes everyone fall asleep (same stuff Al almost ate in chap 3), but scones just seemed fitting and besides, I just had to put Arthur's cooking somewhere and this solved many problems.

The scene of the expedition and the foxes on the stairs originally had only Al's and Ludvig's counterparts talking, but I grew tired of writing too much Al so I gave some parts to others. Most of them actually and then I added some to make it flow better. And the foxes originally hurrayed for the mule-lord before charging (and thus got ice scream in their open mouths), but since I couldn't see Germany doing that, I changed it to something more like him.

Then about chapter 12:

Firstly, the one giving the warning in the beginning of the chapter and in the end of end of chapter 11 was originally Egypt's counterpart, the crow "Vaakku". He is actually very talkative, but I have given all his lines this far to someone else. Egypt was one of the last characters I invented, because he and Vaakku are not exactly alike. (I could probably translate the name into "Carue", which you might recognize if you have read/watched One Piece. Anyway, Carue translates to Vaakku in Finnish One Piece (and I find it a very odd name for a crow)).

Secondly: The Underground Stream part before they meet the fix-witch I have made longer. Mainly I added description of the place according to my imagination and then I added some lines: for example, no one talked about the rose lady during the scene in the OS. Also, you may have noticed that Arthur said Francis, not Francoise, but this will be explained later.

Thirdly: The OS author never told what happened to the boat, they just suddenly were somewhere it was not, so I added the wind to carry them away. This way, I could also add England's magic.

And then the fourth thing (how much more =.=): In the OS the fox-witch tells them about the scarf (in OS mirror) in detail, which I find a stupid thing for a villain to do, so I removed that and countered it with Yao's line. Basically, he told them why they would need it and what would it do (nice thinking, Arthur). This way it's more interesting.

Then I already told about the difference with the mice, didn't I? *checks* Yes. Oh, **ShadowFire52**, thank you so much for giving love to the Baltics!

And of course Antonio's counterpart ate carrots not tomatoes, but this is Spain we're talking about.

And that's it! Sorry for the long A/N, but I hope I did satisfy your curiosity, Sotnosen93. Also, I really appreciate for being curious in first place. Thank you for the reviews, and thank you to my beta, Hazel, for coming back to business.


	14. Part 14 Long Live the Donkey Prince

**Part 14/20**

**Long Live the Donkey Prince!**

As Arthur Kirkland appeared at the Wind Tower's door behind Little Al and his companions, holding his keys, a flock of white birds flew quickly over the hills and meadows and over the bright stream of the Beer Valley towards the cities and villages of Hidingland. But in front of the flock flew one dark bird, invisible to all who might look up. And when the other birds landed on the roofs of Hubbub Town, the lonely, dark one flew fast with wobbling wings to the top of the tower of Gilbert Beilschmidt's castle.

The other birds all stayed in the town and sang: "Wake up. Wake up."

And the residents woke up and rubbed their eyes, startled.

"The birds of the donkey lord," they muttered to each other, and the mothers dressed their children and the dogs picked up their hats and the cats quickly took their boots and everyone hurried outside into the streets and started to ask and wonder, "What's the meaning of this? Who freed the birds and from where? And how?"

They all gathered in the big square in front of the castle. The dogs from the Inn of the Flickering Lantern stood there too, quivering with excitement, and the cats from the lift were also present, and everyone else too.

Angry and bewildered, Beilschmidt's main guard fox, Vash Swingli, ran out of the castle and squinted. "Go away! Immediately! Or I'll tell Lord Beilschmidt about you!" he ordered, and then muttered in a low voice, "Or I'll remove you myself, that would be fun..."

But Vash didn't have time to continue because on the roof of the palace the weathervane shrieked loudly and...

Abracadabra!

On top of the weathervane sat Gupta, waving the piece of Rose Lady Francoise's invisibility cloak to the residents of Hidingland.

"I have something important to tell you!" he announced.

"Speak!" everyone shouted back. Well, almost everyone. Those who knew the crow were so startled to hear him speak that they just stared.

Vash didn't answer either. He ruffled his tail and stared up suspiciously, cursing inwardly that he had left his gun inside.

Gupta continued, "No licking your anaesthesia ice creams anymore! Rejoice! I have brought you happy news!"

"WHAT?" Vash screamed, but Gupta spoke over him as fast as he could.

He told them about Donkey Lady Héderváry, and the people were bewildered.

And he told them about Little Prince Al and the people began to stomp.

And he told them how they had destroyed the beer barrel and how sunlight had hit the magic scarf and how that had freed the birds from the clutches of the foxes in the Mirror Mountains.

And then the residents of Hubbub Town understood what was going on, and they started to stomp on the ground even more. And the more they stomped, the faster the last traces of sleepiness and laziness disappeared from them.

"Long live the little donkey prince!" they cheered. "Long live Donkey Lord Edelstein and Donkey Lady Héderváry!"

"Do you want to help them?" asked Gupta, voice already badly hoarse from too much speaking as he wasn't used to it.

"Of course we'll help them!" shouted every little and big donkey, every dog and cat.

"Then quickly go to the Mirror Mountains to help him!" Gupta ended his speech.

But before anyone could make a move to obey him, Vash got angry.

"Oh no, you're not going! You think we foxes are going to let you leave? We're going to tell Beilschmidt about this! If you obey me now, you may only have to spend three weeks without ice cream!

"Who would wanna have your icy surprises in a situation like this?" one old grandmother donkey, who had a white mask covering her eyes and forehead, got mad as well.

"I think it's you who would like to have a taste of that ice cream," continued another granny beside her and then they started glaring each other. The two of them had been housemates for a long time already, but no one knew why. They really couldn't stand each other.

"You go back to your hut!" Vash raged.

"I don't think so!" the elderly ladies said together, and they threatened Vash with their umbrellas.

"Someone help those two, quickly!" Gupta ordered from on top of the palace roof.

Following his orders, the birds of the donkey lord fluttered down and attacked the foxes, who turned around and ran.

"You're not going to get us!" shouted Vash, hiding behind an ice cream cart, the other foxes following.

"Don't let 'em get away to tell Gilbert Beilschmidt!" shouted Denny the innkeeper, seemingly happy, and he grabbed an axe that one fox had dropped.

The townspeople started to chase the foxes, who fled towards the mouth of the underground stream, holding their guitars and remaining weapons. But the dogs of the inn were faster, and they caught the foxes on the riverbank, causing a big rush when everyone else followed.

"Stop!" The granny with the mask silenced everyone.

"I'm sure we would all like to give the foxes some yummy ice cream now," continued the other granny beside her. "I think we've all been so sleepy lately that we've forgotten to give them their share."

"You're sleepy in any case, ice cream or not."

"Shut up!"

"Yes, let's give them some!" said the female cat from the lift.

"Yes!" answered the other citizens.

"No!" answered the foxes, but the dogs were still preventing their escape.

"Open your mouths like good boys should," said another, darker male lift cat.

"It's going to be good," another one deadpanned, offering Vash some ice cream while Ice held him still. And finally...

Slurp

And then...

Krooh!

Immediately, the foxes fell asleep, smiling and poking each other in a neat line on the bank of the underground stream.

So the residents of Hubbub Town quickly began to look for the boats the foxes had taken from them and hidden, but not a single one could be found. And they couldn't ask the foxes since they were all already sleeping. Denny tried to shake Vash awake for a while, but either he was a really good actor or the lift cats had overdone his ice cream portion a bit.

Then the grandmother donkeys took the dogs with them and ran to the Inn of the Flickering Lantern. Quickly they took a couple of tables and brought them to the stream. They were set floating on the river, and the bravest donkeys and the strongest dogs and the lift cats hopped onto them.

"Long live the young donkey prince!" they all shouted, and they started to row with paws and pieces of wood, quickly disappearing up the underground stream.

.*** *** ***

In the Beer Valley, Gilbert Beilschmidt was marching bad-temperedly in front of his fox troops towards the Mirror Mountains.

Suddenly, his current fox captain, Lili (since Ludwig was already in the Mirror Mountains - collapsed, but Gilbert didn't know that), looked behind them and reported, "Master Beilschmidt, there are some pursuers coming this way."

"Whoa... aren't their spirits up..." said Gilbert, turning to look. Then an evil grin crossed his face. "Sound the alarm!"

And Lili did.

Immediately from the hills along the river, dozens of foxes appeared and started to roll beer barrels to effectively block the river and the footpaths. They blocked the Hidinglanders' way.

"You're not going to beat me just like that!" Gilbert laughed, and then turned to continue the march. "Forwards, boys! And Lili. To the Mirror Mountains. There waits our loyal friend Arthur Kirkland with valuable treasure in his towers."

And what happened then?

You'll find out next time...

* * *

A/N: Egypt: Yes, his counterpart is quite talkative. Somehow I imagine after his part is over he's somewhere drinking a lot of water and deciding the next time he'll speak is years ahead.

The grandmother donkeys: Originally there was only one and I decided it to be Greece, but I. Needed. Turkey. Dammit. Is it wrong to make them 1. grand 2. mothers? So yes, I genderflipped them. Somehow I see those two threatening Switzerland with umbrellas. They talk more than they originally did.

Fox Captain Lili: Liechtenstein of course.

I must admit, I don't know how the distances go in this chapter, because either Al co. just took a lot of time or then the Hidinglanders are damn fast. They of course could have taken a detour and they don't have to hide from the foxes. But since this is a childrens tale everything goes =)


	15. Part 15 From Right Under Your Nose

**Part 15/20**

**From Right Under Your Nose**

In the Wind Tower of the Mirror Mountains, the fox witch Arthur Kirkland's eyes turned red and he triumphantly waved the keys in front of Al's nose.

"So you're going to leave for the Kolkolkol Coast?" he asked. "But I say you're not going anywhere. Or perhaps you didn't hear me saying that last time, you little brat? You're not going to discourage me with some stupid food artillery."

"Although it seemed to work quite well," Elizabeta noted, trying not to smile.

"Shut up! Anyway, I've locked every door and hole in this mountain," Kirkland continued, smiling viciously. "And so: begone!" The keys disappeared and everyone gasped. "There go the keys to the depths of the underground stream," the witch laughed, and then whispered. "What do you plan to do next, oh little donkey prince? Give me your best plan, come on."

The travellers fell silent. Im Yong Soo looked down at the valley with his telescope and reported.

"Gilbert Beilschmidt will be here soon. We should think up something quickly."

Lady Héderváry sighed. "So in the end, I couldn't help him..."

"You damned eyebrow witch!" Yao hissed at the fox, who just smirked.

"Soon the mule lord will arrive at the foot of this tower and then I'll send you to him, even if I have to stuff and wrap you in bright caramel papers." Kirkland rubbed his hands with pleasure. "And I'm _finally_ going to have my chocolate!"

But the chocolate mice said to him. "You shouldn't have lost your keys, Arthur. That was the stupidest thing you've ever done and that's saying something."

"What are you whining about, you pint-sized chocolate peanuts?" asked the witch from the window, looking down at the valley, watching for Gilbert and the foxes.

Toris cleared his throat. "You just lost chocolate from right under your nose."

"Chocolate...?" repeated Fox Witch Kirkland, turning around. His eyes turned violet.

"Yes," said Toris and put his tail in good order.

"Tell me immediately what you're talking about!" Arthur Kirkland stepped forwards and his eyes started to glimmer bright yellow. "You yummy critter!"

"If you promise to help Little Al," Raivis said quietly but determinedly, "we can tell you some facts about your mountain."

Kirkland was nervous. "Well...if it _is_ about chocolate... I could perhaps do something... Maybe. But hurry it up, my friend is already coming."

"Your friend?" asked Toris and Raivis together, and then Toris continued. "Oh dear, you've been betrayed, Arthur. You are the ruler of these mountains, so we who live here are actually under your command, but it seems there are still many things you don't know about your kingdom. Gilbert Beilschmidt knows just like we chocolate mice do that the base of the Mirror Mountains is made completely of chocolate."

Arthur stopped dead. "What?"

"In other words," continued Toris the chocolate mouse. "Gilbert is giving you your _own_ chocolate."

Arthur Kirkland suddenly lost his footing and fell to the floor. "You're lying..." Then he shouted, "Gilbert is my friend!"

"No he's not," explained Raivis calmly and told the whole story. "Gilbert Beilschmidt once took your keys in secret and examined the mountains. That time he found our chocolate mines and our chocolate castle and it's that very castle that Beilschmidt has promised to Little Al's capturer."

"And now you've gone and lost your keys, Arthur." Toris sighed and shook his head. "If you want your chocolate now, you'll have to dig for a long time with a huge pickaxe."

It took a while for Arthur Kirkland to understand what he had heard. Then he got mad. He started to run around the room, sniffing and swearing with language that was so inappropriate that we cut it out here. His image was reflected from the hundreds of mirrors in the walls, and it seemed that every reflection had its own eye colour.

"There, you see!" Little Al said to him, although his mother was holding her hands over his ears. "That's what the current ruler of this land is!" He freed his ears, partly out of curiosity of what the witch was saying.

At the same time, Gilbert Beilschmidt arrived at the foot of the tower. "Arthur, my friend!" he shouted upwards. "The chocolate reward is already screaming to see you! Will you now send me the little donkey prince and the others?"

Arthur's eyes were now glowing with so many colours that Al couldn't count them.

"You damned chocolate cheater..." the witch growled so quietly from the window that Beilschmidt couldn't hear him. Then he muttered something to himself and then shouted to the mule. "Wait a moment!"

He turned around to face Little Al. "This is the first time in my life that I've sided myself with donkeys, you know. You'd better be grateful. But I have to admit that Gilbert Beilschmidt really pulled a wrong string there. Now you do just as I say... no wait, isn't that one dumb_ass_ still downstairs?"

"I'm not," they heard Antonio's voice. "Eduard already freed me and here I am. And you, witch, leave our little chief alone." The elder stepped into the room. Eduard was sitting on his shoulder.

"Yes, yes, I'll leave him alone. Now you listen too." Arthur turned to him. His eyes were their original green again. "I'm on your side now. That bloody mule betrayed me too."

"Should I believe you?"

"Please do." Then Arthur turned to Little Al. "Now listen carefully: take the magic scarf and spread it slowly under the sun. Everyone else, get ready to leave." Then he smiled again, now towards the window. "I'm going to make Gilbert gasp in surprise."

"Are you going to send us somewhere?" asked Al, who still didn't quite believe his luck.

"I'm going to send you to the Kolkolkol Coast. Remember to use your scarf wisely. And remember..." His eyes turned black as he came closer and stared straight into little donkey's soul. "No laughing. Not a single snicker on the Kolkolkol Coast, got that kid? You'd do well to remember that."

"Yes, sir," said Al, slightly afraid. "And thank you, sir."

"Good boy." Arthur smiled a little and then turned around. His eyes were glowing green like lanterns. "Arise, boat!" He began to cast his spells, and the air became tense and heavy around them. Something green and violet started circling on the floor below his paws. "Arise, my ravens!"

The whole mountain started to rumble, and a thick mist appeared all around the travellers. Soon they noticed that they were sitting in their boat.

"Where am I?" asked Yong Soo, terrified.

"Take good care of yourselves," instructed Arthur Kirkland.

"You're right here, Yong Soo," assured Lady Héderváry.

"This is far too unscientific for me..." the scientist sighed.

"Aren't you coming with us?" Al asked the witch, surprised.

"I have some digging to do," answered Fox Witch Kirkland. He hugged the three surprised mice tightly and looked very enthusiastic and happy. "Right, fellas?"

"Uh..." answered Toris from Arthur's arms, trying to decide whether he liked this change in the witch's attitude or not. And they had no idea when exactly they'd ended up on the witch's lap.

"But first," Arthur continued, and the air around him started humming as three pitch-black ravens suddenly flew in front of the boat. "I'm counting on you, Noire, Scott, Ales!"

The boat rose from the floor and then flew out of the tower window ahead of the birds. They rose higher and higher, leaving a bewildered Gilbert Beilschmidt to watch them as they travelled towards the sparkling green sea.

"Hurray!" shouted Old Donkey Antonio, and hugged Al tightly.

"What! Is! This!" raged mule Beilschmidt to Arthur Kirkland. "What are you doing, my friend?"

"You still don't get, do you?" answered Arthur, and he started to mumble in his strange, old language.

"What?" asked Lili, turning to Gilbert. "Do you understand what he's saying, sir?"

But Gilbert had turned pale. "Shit..."

Then, as if to underline his words, they hear a roar from the mists of the Mirror Mountains. A moment later, they saw wings spreading from nowhere, and soon after that, Gilbert realised that he was facing a dragon, summoned in the middle of its nap.

Arthur leant on the windowsill and smiled. "Do you like my friend?" To the dragon he shouted, "Have fun, Peter! But play nice, okay?" Then he turned around without waiting for an answer. "And now, my little friends," he said to Toris, Raivis and Eduard, still holding them tightly and petting them, "to a real job. We wish a good journey to the little donkey prince. It wouldn't be that bad if they found Lord Edelstein. I wonder if I'll get kicked out of the fox council for this, though..."

.*** *** ***

But high in the air, Little Al and his companions were flying towards the Kolkolkol Coast and the Maze Isles. Slowly, the ravens started to lower the boat, and as they landed on the green coast, sharp eyes followed their arrival from the bushes and...

What happened then at the Kolkolkol Coast?

You'll find out next time.

* * *

A/N: About this chapter: If this went by the OS, it would be England's nose (or muzzle) that changed colour, not his eyes, but... come on, how much cooler is that? And of course he shouldn't swear and I have to tell, his chants quite killed me (there'll be more later) because they weren't that easy to fit into English.

All the mice went originally with Al and co. to the Kolkolkol coast but this worked better in my mind, since this also gives them more airtime, because they are barely mentioned after the Mirror Mountains -part although they're always there. (Same goes with Poland by the way.)

Korea's counterpart originally lost his glasses, not "himself", but Korea has none so... of course it wouldn't be the weirdest thing I've done to the hetalias in this story -.-' *thinks about Turkey and Greece*

The basic structure of this chapter is all over a bit crooked: things happen in a slightly different order, are more complicated and/or are just a bit different (like the muzzle/eyes thing).

The dragon: Originally the witch summoned more ice scream from his stores to flood over the foxes but 1. I had already replaced that with scones earlier, 2. I didn't want to use scones yet again (I don't think England would himself admit they could be used as a biological weapon), and 3. I wanted Sealand somewhere. He'll come again later.

Thank you for all who read this again and for one lovely review an extra thanks and a hug. You deserve a hug as well, Hazel.


	16. Part 16 To Help

**Part 16/20**

**To Help!**

As Little Al and the others flew through the air towards the faraway blue sea, Fox Captain Lili got rid of the pocket-size dragon that was trying to burn Gilbert's tail. Peter the Dragon flew away after Arthur to burn him this time. He didn't like being summoned in the middle of his sleep. Gilbert stood up straight and, blushing slightly, ordered the chuckling foxes into straight lines. Then he told Lili to blow the horn once more.

A new wave of barrels rolled down the mountainside, blocking the way of the helpers and filling the stream.

"I'm awesome," mumbled Beilschmidt, smiling, and he led his foxes to the path between the Mirror Mountains and continued the chase.

But in the Beer Valley, the residents of Hubbub Town pushed and hammered and kicked the thick barrels in front of them with all their might.

"Stupid barrels!" swore the black lift cat. "The crooks are leaving!"

Denny the innkeeper sliced one of the barrels with his axe. "We know that!"

They continued to push and kick, and even the old granny donkeys ran to help with their umbrellas, hitting each other on the way. The Hidinglanders called for reinforcements to help with the barrels, but the more they pushed closer, the more they were forced into each other. And if someone tried to get to the foxes up the hill, the guards just rolled more barrels down, laughing their tails off.

"We have to come up with an idea quickly," growled Ice at one barrel, annoyed.

Then, suddenly, Crow Gupta spread his wings and flew into the centre of the flock of Lord Edelstein's birds. Then they all rose and started flying towards the south with Gupta leading them, and soon they disappeared from sight.

"Now even the birds are leaving!" sniffed the female lift cat, and the brown cat hugged her tightly.

The helpers sat on the grass, sighing. They had lost.

"Stop whining!" ordered the masked granny donkey suddenly.

The other granny knocked on one small barrel with her umbrella. "That's right. Do you just plan on sitting there and leaving a little donkey who's in trouble?"

"That's right! We came here to help them!" continued the other one. "Put your money where your mouth is! I can't believe how weak young people are these days."

"That's right," the other granny nodded.

"Wow, they agree..." Tino stared, utterly surprised.

"This might be the first time," Nor said. "An interesting phenomenon..."

Berwald nodded and howled, long and deep, to get everyone's attention.

Denny joined the howl with his slightly higher voice and raised his axe above his head. "We won't leave the prince alone!" Berwald's and now also Tino's howls marked his orders.

"We won't leave the prince alone!" repeated everyone, and they started to work again. And they worked harder and harder as time went by. Noon came and they worked. Noon passed and they worked. But the pile of barrels didn't get any smaller. And finally they were all out of breath and utterly exhausted.

Then the black lift cat looked at the sky and started. "Hey!" he shouted, and everyone stopped working.

"What is it, Kiku?" asked the brown cat.

"The birds!" shouted Kiku, delighted, and pointed to the sky. "The birds are coming back!"

Everyone raised their gaze to the sky and...

A miracle!

There flew the whole flock of Lord Edelstein's white birds with Crow Gupta in the lead, quickly coming nearer and nearer, back to the valley. And in their beaks they carried a big silver-coloured net and the figure that was sitting in it. A magic wand sparkled in the sun.

"Rose Lady Francoise!" whispered the residents, standing up to see better. "Our friend Francoise Bonnefoy is coming!"

The dogs of the Inn of the Flickering Lantern started hopping and dancing around. "Little Al has freed the rose lady! They've broken the curse!"

"They've done it!" rejoiced Ice and the female lift cat.

Everyone started to work harder again, inspired. "Hail the donkey prince and his companions!"

The birds dropped the net carefully onto the grass and Rose Lady Francoise hopped lightly onto one barrel.

She smiled, raised her wand and whispered. "Huphurlup."

At that moment, a soft, rosy wind blew through the valley. Everyone closed their eyes and sniffed the air, and for a little moment enjoyed the scent of roses. When they opened their eyes, they saw the source of the scent: every single barrel had changed into a fully blossomed rose.

But before anyone could say anything, Lady Francoise turned around and glared up at the foxes, who sat with their mouths open in bewilderment at the top of the hill. She raised her wand again and...

"Huphurlup."

A vine of yellow roses started to climb up the hill towards the foxes.

"Help!" screamed the foxes, and they turned around and ran away from the flowers, turning somersaults and sneezing on the way as the vines started to tickle their tails. "Killer roses!"

But now with the road opened, the residents of Hidingland started running as if there were fire behind them, heading towards the Mirror Mountains. And ahead of them in her net flew Lady Francoise Bonnefoy, her wand glimmering in the sun.

But when they arrived at the foot of the mountains, there wasn't anyone there.

"_Oh,_" said Denny frustrated. "They got away."

"What do we do now?" asked the lift cat Kiku

"I might be able to help!" announced a voice from above them. Arthur Kirkland appeared from behind some rocks, eating chocolate. It looked as if he'd been eating for a while already.

Quickly, everybody backed away from him, and Francoise stepped forward, holding her wand ready and glaring at the witch.

But to their surprise, the witch just raised his thick eyebrow. "Francis... are you still doing that?"

"Huh?" everyone wondered, looking around to find out who was he talking about.

Francis Bonnefoy on the other hand gestured to the witch to keep him quiet. "Shh, you idiot witch, don't ruin my reputation!"

"Why, I would gladly do that," answered Arthur, biting into his chocolate. "But I can't see what reputation a man has left to ruin after dressing himself as a woman for God knows how many years. In any case, aren't you a bit old to be luring boys to you that way?"

"Shut it, Kirkland!" the rose lord silenced him, although the Hidinglanders had already heard. "_Anyway_, are you going to oppose us? Because if you are, I'll have to–"

"Do you honestly think you have a chance of beating me with magic? But you don't have to be afraid of me," answered Arthur, coming a little closer. "Anyone who's an enemy of Gilbert Beilschmidt is my friend."

"What?" asked Francis, lowering his wand. "I thought you were friends with him."

"That damn brat cheated me and I didn't like it, so no, not anymore," Arthur explained, taking a new piece of chocolate from under his pointed hat. "Can you imagine? He didn't tell me about the chocolate I'd been practically sitting on for years."

"Doesn't that just mean you're stupid?" asked Rose Lord Francis, still resentful at Arthur for exposing his gender in front of everyone.

"No! And a man who dresses himself as a woman, doesn't have the right to call me stupid, Francis!" Arthur shouted. Then he sighed. "Anyway..." He plucked his own wand out of thin air and hopped in front of the mountainside, his eyes turning bright green again. "Look carefully, everyone. I'm a far better magician than that old frog. Now..." He closed his eyes and started to mumble something that no one could hear. The air turned green around him. Then, suddenly, he opened his green, shining eyes wide and shouted. "Chick and chirp, my realm! Split and roar, my mountain! Arise and obey, my underground resources!"

The mountain rumbled again, and somewhere they could hear a sound like little birds chirping. And then, there in front of the helpers, a long, wide, white-coloured slide appeared.

"Now, everyone who wants to go and help Little Al, sit down here and slide straight to the Kolkolkol Coast," said Arthur, and he laughed at their surprised expressions. "Surprised at seeing real magic? That's a white chocolate slide. You can eat some of it on the way so your strength returns." Then he remembered. "Oh yeah, and remember not to laugh. No laughing on the Kolkolkol Coast."

"Long live Arthur Kirkland!" shouted the Hidinglanders, and they started to run towards the slide.

"Hey... did you hear what I just said...?"

All of the helpers, one by one, jumped onto the huge slide and...

Wheee!

One after the other, they started disappearing around the corner, and the group resumed their chase after Little Al and Gilbert Beilschmidt.

"Kick that stupid mule's arse!" shouted Arthur after them when the last one had disappeared.

He was just about to leave when...

"Huphurlup," someone whispered in his ear.

Arthur lost his footing and a second later he realised that he, too, was now on the slide, gliding towards the green bushes of the Kolkolkol Coast.

He raised his furious red eyes up to the sky and shouted to the flock of white birds. "Fuck it, Francis!"

And what happened then?

You'll find out next time...

* * *

A/N: What's different in this chapter (warning: a lot):

Sealand, of course. I though about making him a full-sized dragon for a while and make it a grand duel between him and Prussia, but then I'd probably had had to kill him or at least hurt him and it din't fit anyway, so pocket-size it is.

The barrel scene is longer. There are more lines, the Turkey-Greece part had only one line in the OS for example and the dogs didn't howl. They didn't, but... I just _had _to, sorry. They were my only adult dogs in this (Matt's a puppy) and they just _had _to howl (forgive my inner Nordic-fangirl-mode). Also, most of the lines didn't have anyone special to say them or they were general shouting so I just handed them out to available characters like the lift cats.

The whole Francis vs. Arthur -part. There was nothing of this sort, it's completely my invention, including the crossdressing part: the rose lady really was just the rose_ lady_, but _this_ rose lady just happened to be France, so there had to be something behind it. The two didn't also know each other on the personal level, the rose lady didn't say anything in the OS. Also, England's spell has as much to do with the original chant as the words "split" and "mountain", and the slide was ice cream (again), but I hadn't had it earlier so I didn't put it here. And falling to the slide should have been his own error, but France needed a revenge and England must have some pride left later on.

Now imaging how short this chapter originally was.

Thank you to everyone for everything


	17. Part 17 The Danger of the KolkolkolCoast

**Part 17/20**

**The Danger of the Kolkolkol Coast**

While Arthur Kirkland was sliding towards the Kolkolkol Coast and Gilbert Beilschmidt was running over the Mirror Mountains in front of his fox army, Antonio's boat landed on the green grass of the Kolkolkol Coast at the foot of a tall hill. And from the bushes, a pair of sharp eyes followed every movement the travellers made.

Quickly, Little Al, Matt and Im Yong Soo jumped out of the boat and helped the others to do the same. Noire, Scott and Ales croaked once and flew in a little ring above them before rising high up into the clouds again.

"Thank you!" Al waved to them and then quickly took a telescope and pointed it at the sea. In front of them they saw the sparkling, blue Hiding Sea. The Maze Isles decorated the sea like a streamer. But the Secret Isle was nowhere to be seen.

A soft wind blew above them, touching the top of the tall hill. Lady Héderváry quickly raised her veil to cover her face. She had a bad feeling.

"How... different," she said quietly, looking around her. "There's nothing here. And no one. It's not like it used to be."

"My lady, it... smells so scary here," Feliks whispered, cuddling closer to the donkey lady.

But Al didn't listen as he was searching for good spots to climb up the hill. "I'll go up there and look for the Secret Isle.

"I'll come with you," offered Black Cat Yao, hopping onto a large stone. "I'm a better climber than you. I'll find you a good way up."

"I'll come too," Matt said, and followed the cat.

But before they could get nearer to the hill, the bushes beside them moved and suddenly there were seven donkeys surrounding them. One of them grabbed Little Al's ears, effectively capturing him.

"No admittance to Laughing Hill," the donkey said in a strict female voice.

In a matter of seconds, the whole expedition was forced over to the green bushes and one of the donkeys, a young female who seemed to have more strength in her hooves than any one of them, filled their boat with sand, leaves and grass. It happened so quickly that they didn't even understand it until they realised that the boat was now so perfectly hidden that no one would think it was a boat.

For a moment it was perfectly quiet. No one said anything simply because the travellers were so bewildered that they didn't know what they should say. Their captors didn't bother explaining themselves.

Then Al coughed, and immediately the grip on his ears tightened and the strong female stepped closer to him like an angry storm cloud. But then Al remembered his task and finally realised what had happened.

"Let us go! Now!" he started shouting, trying to free himself.

"No!" answered the strong donkey and from somewhere she took a knife in her hoof. She was clearly the leader of the group. "You could have laughed. Stay still, you worm, because no one harasses my brother."

"Laughed?" asked Little Al, baffled. "I don't have time to laugh, I'm in a hurry."

But the donkeys didn't answer and Al couldn't free his ears no matter how much he struggled.

"Natalia Arlovskaya," said Lady Héderváry, recognising the leader and lowering her veil slowly.

"Lady Héderváry?" gasped the leader, Natalia, and all the donkeys, except for the one who held Al's ears, straightened and formed a neat line. They all bowed deeply to their ruler.

"What's the meaning of this?" Natalia demanded, letting her gaze wander across everyone.

"You see–" Al started, but...

"Shut your mouth, I'm not talking to you!" Natalia raged, and Al squeaked but couldn't get away.

Mother Donkey smiled a little. "You haven't changed. At least something here hasn't then. Listen for a while..."

She told the whole story and enjoyed seeing Natalia's subordinates so suprised. Al on the other hand was sulking a little because he had wanted to tell the story and with one donkey still holding his ears and pressing his hat over his eyes, he couldn't even see the reactions.

"I... see," said Natalia when Lady Héderváry had finished telling the story. She looked at the donkey holding Little Al. "You can let him go now, sister."

"Oh good," her sister sighed, and finally freed the little prince. "I was starting to grow bored."

"And who are you?" asked the elder Antonio.

"We are the silver guardians of the Windsorcerer Ivan Braginski," explained Natalia, and pointed to her sister. "We two, Natalia and Katyusha, are his sisters and we lead the guardians. Right, sister?"

Katyusha smiled at the travellers. "You see, long before the foxes came, this place was full of Hidinglanders who came here every day to swim, spend time with friends, and pick the sunflowers that grew in the fields behind the Laughing Hill."

"That's how I remember this place," Elizabeta noted quietly.

"What flowers?" asked Matt. "We flew here high in the air and I didn't see or smell any flowers."

"Yes, that's part of the problem," answered Natalia, hissing like a cat. "Those bastards, I'm the only one who can harass my brother like that..."

"Huh?" asked Little Al confused.

"You see," Katyusha hurried to continue, "In the old days, when Gilbert Beilschmidt hadn't come yet, all the laughter that people shared on this coast and the echoes of that laughter were gathered up by the Windsorcerer into the cave walls of the Laughing Hill. Using that laughter as an ingredient, Ivan created warm and friendly winds that blew through this chilly coast and the whole of Hidingland. They also made the sunflowers bloom and kept General Winter from freezing us all." Katyusha had explained all this in a friendly voice, but suddenly she looked sad.

"What happened?" asked Little Al. "Why aren't we allowed to laugh here anymore?"

"Because then those fucking foxes took the scarf!" Natalia interrupted, shouting straight into Im Yong Soo's ear, who jumped half a metre into the air with surprise.

"A scarf?" Al repeated, raising his eyebrows.

"Yes. You see, Ivan is in possession of a great and powerful magic," continued Katyusha, looking down. "But actually it is too huge for even him to control. If he lost control of his powers, it would be a disaster. That's why we made him a scarf that seals part of his powers and helps him control them. That way Ivan didn't have to worry about causing natural disasters every time he created a new wind."

"But then the foxes came and stole the scarf from our brother." Natalia shook her head. "Now if someone laughs on the Kolkolkol Coast, it will free all the wind that brother has stored in the caves of the Laughing Hill. When freed, those winds will create a huge storm that will probably tear apart the whole of Hidingland and sink half of the Maze Isles into the sea."

"And without his scarf," sighed Katyusha, "Ivan has no way to control or stop it. He'll only be able to watch it happen."

But Little Donkey Al had started to search for something in one of their bags, and now he straightened up, holding the present from Fox Witch Kirkland. "Where is Ivan Braginski? Here is his scarf. I'm going to return it to him right now."

The silver guardians stared at the white scarf, eyes wide, and then rushed over so enthusiastically that the bushes started rustling loud.

"Thank you," said Katyusha, hugging Little Al tightly. Al blushed heavily.

"I'll take you to him," promised Natalia right away. "We'll guide you to the Sunflower Cave."

One of the donkeys started to clear the boat to make it look like a boat again, and then all the silver guardians lined up before stepping out of the bushes with the travellers onto the open beach.

Suddenly they all stopped as if they had been hit by an invisible wall.

Gilbert Beilschmidt stood in front of them, looking at them with cunning and anger. The foxes were standing behind him, and their tails were being ruffled by the soft sea wind. The whole beach was full of foxes. Captain Lili stood beside her ruler, as silent as all the others.

"At last," said Gilbert softly. "At last, my _little_ prince..."

Yao hissed and stepped forwards, but Natalia caught him. "If there's a fight, we'll handle it – this is our territory. But until then, this is between Little Al and Beilschmidt."

"Right," said Gilbert, still in a misleadingly friendly voice, and he nodded. "Now, little prince, hand over that hat. When I have that, my rule will be complete. And I assure you that I'll be a more fucking awesome ruler than Roderich ever was."

Little Al's ears twisted when he heard the first name of his father. Even his mother hadn't ever said it to him. Then he took a deep breath, stamped his hooves on the grass and shouted back at Gilbert, "Come and take it!"

"Why, gladly." Gilbert stepped closer. "I'll show you how the awesome works."

Little Al clenched his teeth. "Then I'm gonna be more awesome than you!"

For a moment, Gilbert just stood still, staring at the little donkey, and then he burst out laughing. "What? You say you're going to overpower my awesome? I'd like to see that!"

Al was about to answer, but fell silent as a strong wind suddenly blew him off balance. The silver guardians gasped and Natalia screamed at Gilbert Beilschmidt.

"No! You fool! What have you done? You've freed the winds! You idiot! You–" she sobbed into the wind that was rendering their year-long efforts of keeping the storm from breaking out meaningless. "No! _Brother!_"

Oblivious to her shouts, the waves rose higher as the winds started get stronger at a ridiculous speed. The travellers, the silver guardians and the foxes grabbed each other or anything near to them so as not to be blown away by the strong winds. Little Al reached for Matt's paw, but a whirlwind grabbed him and he rose into air and flew and flew and flew...

And what happened then?

You'll find out next time...

* * *

A/N: I apoligize for the break, Hazel has been busy. But now we have the story about ready and waiting for to be posted, so the updates will return to be regular.

**About this chapter** (OS = original story):

Belarus and Ukraine: Were not in the OS: none of the guardians was named and they had no leaders, nor mentioned personal relationships with the Windsorcerer.

The story of the Windsorcerer: The explanation is quite a bit longer and more detailed than in the OS, which was only a couple of sentences. What follows from that is that most of it is from my head, from which follows that it's much more dramatic.

Prussia's laughter: In the OS, the mule-lord laughs when Little Donkey shows him the mirror of the Windsorcerer and he sees his own reflection, which he then comments to be ridiculous. In this case that was not possible because 1. I've already changed the mirror to a scarf, and 2. what would ever make Prussia laugh at his own reflection? So I've countered it with their conversation about the Awesome. He also was supposed to sing the part where he explained why he wanted the hat. I had no particular reason to change that, it just happened (and the song was stupid. It was approximately: "When I have the ruler's hat, I'll be the lord I'll give you that" ("Kun hallitsijan hattu on, ruhtinas on kiistaton") when I tried translating it.)

Thank you for your support again.

Hazel, you'll always have my gratitude for this.


	18. Part 18 Trust

**Part 18/20**

**Trust**

When Gilbert Beilschmidt laughed on the Kolkolkol Coast, a huge storm broke and turned everything and everyone on the coast upside down. The sea started to surge and the islands near the coast moaned in the wind. The waves rose higher and higher, crashing down onto the beach and reaching the green grass that had been pressed against the ground by the strength of the wind. Beilschmidt himself fell over onto the grass as he was caught by one strong gust.

But Little Al was caught in a strong, blue whirlwind that flung him up high into the air. Al could barely breathe in the strong wind, and he clutched Windsorcerer Ivan Braginski's scarf against his chest. He couldn't hear anything but wind and was afraid to even try to look at where he was flying.

Then, suddenly, someone grabbed his left hindleg and pulled him out of the wind. Little Al landed on the long grass and coughed and spluttered.

"My scarf!" the one who had saved him shouted right beside him, and when Al opened his eyes, he realised he was at the top of Laughing Hill and was looking straight into the eyes of the Windsorcerer Ivan Braginski.

Quickly, Al let go of the scarf he was holding and the Windsorcerer took it and hugged it tightly against his chest, welcoming it back home like an old friend. Al looked at the sorcerer: an almost white donkey with deep, violet eyes. Before he could observe the magician more, he gasped as the winds that raged around them escaped, leaving an utterly peaceful ring in a middle of the storm.

Al didn't understand what was going on at first, but then Ivan Braginski stood up and put his scarf in its rightful place around his shoulders. Suddenly Al realised that he was afraid of the sorcerer, who was now making the air around him waver with a light as violet as his eyes. Ivan's eyes were also glowing and his mane was waving, although there was no wind in the area they were in. Little Al was afraid. And so were the wild winds. As quickly as the storm had appeared, it now calmed and the sun appeared from behind the clouds, the winds quickly answering to the demands of the sorcerer.

Little Donkey Al stared at the beach where just moments ago there had been complete chaos. Now it was so quiet that Al could hear own heart.

"Little one," he heard a friendly voice say, and he turned to look at Ivan Braginski.

The sorcerer smiled. "Thank you. You've brought my scarf back to me."

"Uh..." Al said, looking at Ivan, who didn't look as scary as he had a moment ago, though the memory still lingered in the back of his mind. "You're welcome. It was my pleasure."

"Say. May I do something in return?" asked Ivan, looking deep into Little Al's eyes, leaning closer.

"Uh..." Al felt very uncertain. "Well, uh..."

"So this is what you're doing," said Braginski, investigating the writing under the brim of Al's hat. "In that case, let me give you some advice."

"Umm, okay," muttered Al, shaking Ivan's hoof off his hat. "What would that be?"

"Trust."

"Excuse me?"

Ivan came nearer to him and touched his chest. "You need to trust yourself and your friends," the sorcerer whispered in his ear. "You are the son of the donkey lord. You'd better act like it."

Al retreated away from him. "How do you know who I am?"

Ivan smiled at him happily. "Who knows how I know what I know?"

"Eh?" Little Al was struggling inside to decide whether Braginski himself was included in the people he should trust.

At the same time at the bottom of the hill, Gilbert Beilshmidt rose to his feet. He was angry. Very angry. Actually, so angry that his ears were practically tied in a knot.

"Now I've had it with him! Lili!" he shouted as he ran to the Laughing Hill and started climbing upwards.

"Follow me!" Captain Lili shouted to the fox army, running after the mule lord.

Yao stood up in the bushes and shoke the sand from his fur. He grabbed Matt and ran after the foxes. "Help Little Al! Stop the foxes!"

All the guardians, Im Yong Soo and Lady Héderváry followed him. Antonio tried to come with them too, but he had become too tangled with the bushes in the wind. They grabbed the tails of the foxes and tried desperately to stop them. But there were just too many of them. They couldn't stop all the foxes, let alone Gilbert Beilschmidt who was already way up ahead of them.

Lili turned around. "Capture them, please," she ordered casually.

But just as the foxes were about to overpower them, the bushes started rustling behind them. And first one Hidinglander, then another, and then even more, one after another, appeared from Arthur Kirkland's white chocholate slide and landed on the Kolkolkol Coast.

"Long live the donkey lord!" they shouted.

A huge hustle and bustle started as the Hidinglanders and the foxes started to fight. The golden sand was suddenly full of tails and hooves and whiskers and cries of "hurray!" escaped from the hubbub. Soon the foxes had lost their advantage and the dogs from the inn and the cats from the lift ran towards the Laughing Hill to capture Gilbert Beilschmidt.

"STOP!" Everyone stopped in their tracks at the loud voice above them.

Natalia stood up. "Brother?"

Ivan Braginski was standing on the edge of the hilltop, smiling widely, his scarf waving in the violet aura he was creating around himself again.

Katyusha smiled worriedly. "Oh dear... he's mad..."

Ivan Braginski glared at them and everybody fell silent. "You're noisy..."

"That's right!" shouted Gilbert Beilschmidt, crawling the last few metres to the hilltop. "And no matter what you do, I've already won."

"Fighting at this point is meaningless. If you want to do so anyway, be my guest, but do it elsewhere; you irritate me and mess up my coast," continued Ivan Braginski, turning to look at Gilbert. "And if you want to win against that little one, you'll have to defeat him."

"Are you telling me to fight him?" demanded Little Al, not believing his ears.

Ivan came a little closer and whispered something in Al's ear. Al looked first suprised and then became uncertain.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

Ivan smiled and backed away a little. "Trust, little prince."

Al looked at him for a moment and then nodded. "Right." He turned to Gilbert, made sure his hooves were well balanced on the grass and took a deep breath.

"Remember that you are his son," Ivan said quietly. "I expect you to act like a prince or I see no reason to obey you. Your father managed to gain my respect."

Suddenly more noise rose up from down on the beach and Fox Captain Ludwig appeared from the bushes with his patrol. They had recovered from the scone poisoning. With this reinforcement, the foxes suddenly had the upper hand again.

Just as Lili and Ludwig were about to arrest the Hidinglanders, the bushes started rustling again and Arthur Kirkland appeared from the chocolate slide and landed on his muzzle in the sand.

"Aaah!" shouted Ludwig, jumping into the bushes to hide from the witch, his whole patrol following to Lili's bewilderment. Ludwig, however, had been badly traumatised. "Arthur! Just leave me alone!"

Arthur Kirkland massaged his butt and nose. "Ouch... I'll kill that frog..."

"Arthur!" shouted a small voice, and Toris appeared from under his hat. "Are you trying to kill us?"

"You sat on me," sobbed Raivis from Arthur's sleeve.

Eduard patted his head. "There, there."

And then the scent of roses filled the air and, flying in his net, came Francis Bonnefoy with the birds of the donkey lord and Crow Gupta.

But they had all arrived too late, because right at that moment, Gilbert Beilschmidt reached Little Al.

"Well?" he asked, and offered his hoof. "Now give me the symbol of my victory."

But Al remained silent and after a quick look at the sea, where he could now see the Secret Isle in the sun, he shared a quick look with Ivan Braginski, who smiled at him.

"Trust..." mumbled Al to himself, and then looked at Beilschmidt again.

And then Little Al grabbed his hat and with a huge swing he threw it into the air towards the sea.

"What!" yelped Gilbert Beilchmidt, and everyone on the beach gasped.

But Little Al nodded to Ivan and then jumped after his hat. The Windsorcerer's eyes flashed bright violet for a second and a strong but soft blue wind grabbed Al and his hat and carried him higher and higher. The wind took a strong, stable grip on Little Al, and with his hat he flew out over the sea towards the Secret Isle, leaving a bewildered Gilbert Beilschmidt behind him.

"Yes!" shouted Arthur Kirkland, waving his paws in the air and completely forgetting that Raivis and Eduard were still in his sleeve.

"Stop, Arthuu-uuur!" Eduard squeaked, trying to keep still.

"I think I'm gonna throw up..." said Raivis.

"No, wait, not there!" Arthur objected, hastily stopping waving.

"Thank you, Ivan!" shouted Lady Héderváry. The windsorcerer just smiled.

In the air, Francis Bonnefoy ordered the birds to fly to the Hidingsea and the Hidinglanders started running to the hilltop and Gilbert Beilschmidt.

But then Gilbert suddenly took something out of his pocket.

Arthur stopped dead and his eyes turned yellow. "Stop! Don't go there, stop! Gilbert has his special potion with him! If even a drop of it falls on you, you'll be dead! Stop!"

"How do you know that?" asked Ludwig, his head popping up from the bushes. "Even I didn't know about that."

"Well, uh..." Arthur scratched his ear. "I kinda helped him make it."

Ludwig turned pale (quite an achievement for a fox). "The combined cooking of you and Gilbert? Whoa..."

"You'd better be careful," said Gilbert Beilschmidt, suddenly speaking very quietly and looking very dangerous. "And now I'll go after him with that boat. If you'll excuse me."

He walked down past the Hidinglanders and foxes, who didn't move a muscle and just stared at the bottle in his hand, except those few who moved out of his way. And so Gilbert pushed the boat out into the blue waves and turned on the gustpuffer and started his journey towards the Secret Isle.

And what happened then?

You'll find out next time...

* * *

A/N: Thank you for so many hits even after a long break.

About this chapter compared to the original:

The storm: More detailed and dramatic.

The Windsorcerer: Russia must be the polar opposite of the original windsorcerer, Pim. Pim is pure white, has a golden mane, an innocent heart/mind , a voice resembling little bells, is very much a pacifist etc. etc. She (note: she) doesn't also _scare _the winds in any way just reflects sun from his mirror and everything is fine again. Nevertheless, Russia is one of the first characters I decided, though in this case I honestly reconsidered it multible times. But I think it turned out pretty well, considering that the whole character had to be mostly re-written.

The chocolate mice: Weren't in this chapter at all.

The Mule's "deadly potion": Facts about the OS potion: 1. Name: Special juice grand magic (_very_ awkward translation ^^ Maybe Special grand magic juice then? I so didn't want to translate that to the story ^^) 2. Only the Mule-lord had taken part in making it 3. Doesn't exactly _kill_, but transfers people into ice scream so doesn't that count as killing?

Hazel, thank you so much.


	19. Part 19 The Great Battle

**Part 19/20**

**A Great Battle**

When Gilbert Beilschmidt had taken Antonio's boat and paddled out into the calm waves of the Hidingsea, Fox Witch Kirkland grabbed a red bucket that the silver guardians used to wash their clothes and brought it to the water where he jumped into it.

"After that chocolate thief! We can't just sit here and wait!" he shouted, and started paddling after the mule lord.

"Get going!" barked Matt.

"Let's go help, everyone!" Yao shouted.

Natalia was the first to obey. She ordered the guardians to bring all the big logs and little garden tables from the bushes where they had been hidden for many years. And then, quickly, the helpers hopped into them and began a frantic chase between the Maze Isles.

"Let's go help Little Al!" everyone yelled.

But far away from them all, Little Al landed in the sea near the shore of the Secret Isle. He swam the last few metres and climbed the slippery rocks. He put his wet hat back on his head and started running towards the tower in the centre of the island.

"Wait, who are you?" he heard a voice shouting, and then a fox ran up to him from behind the tower. He had a large plaster across his nose.

"Get out of my way!" Little Al shouted back. He didn't want to see any foxes right now.

"I can't," said the fox, blocking his way to the tower. "I'm supposed to be a guard. I can't let just anyone wander in."

"I don't want to deal with you!" said Al nervously.

"Great, because I don't want to deal with you either, but my orders are to make sure no one leaves this island, so I think I'll have to–."

Smack!

Al stared in suprise as the fox fainted after being hit by a rock.

"Who are you?" he heard a new voice say, and raised his head upwards. Lord Edelstein had heard them arguing and was leaning out of the window to see him. In his hooves he was holding another rock. And he recognised his hat.

But Al didn't have time to answer. He ran to the stone door of the tower.

Click.

It was locked.

"Gilbert Beilschmidt has the keys!" shouted the donkey lord from above him, leaning as far from the little window as he could. Then he raised his gaze to the ocean and his eyes widened. "Watch out!"

On the shore, Mule Wizard Gilbert Beilschmidt the Awesome pulled the boat out of reach of the waves and started to approach Little Al.

Lord Edelstein retreated from the window and ran to the door, trying to open it from the inside. After kicking it a couple of times, he gave up and ran back to the window, his hooves clattering on the floor, and mumbled. "This can't end well..."

Little Donkey Al had hopped quickly away from the door and was now standing on the first step of the stairs.

"Are you finally going to give up?" asked Gilbert, stopping ten metres away from him.

"In your dreams," answered Little Al quietly, glaring at the mule who glared back. Up in the tower, Donkey Lord Edelstein was cursing under his breath for not being able to do anything.

"Unfortunately, I rarely remember my dreams," the mule replied. Then Gilbet suddenly smiled. "How about we make a deal?"

"A deal?"

"Yes. If you give me that hat and come away from the tower, I'll give you the position of being my right hand donkey. You'd have all the riches and delicacies Hidingland has to offer and power enough to make important decisions. You'd even have pancakes occasionally."

"What about the donkey lord?" asked Little Al.

"You still care about him when I offer to let you take his place?" smiled Gilbert. "You and I would make a good team, Little Al. Together we would be unbeatable. And just think of all the foxes obeying you and following your orders."

"Would the foxes obey me too?" asked Al, startled.

"Of course they would," answered the wizard. "And I could make you supreme ruler of the Mirror Mountains, since Arthur isn't capable of that anymore."

Al stiffened. "Did you do something to him?"

Beilschmidt raised his eyebrows. "No. He just isn't good enough for it anymore. So, what do you say?"

"I refuse."

"Well that was quick." Gilbert took one step forward.

"I refuse!" repeated Al, now shouting. "I'll save the donkey lord!

"Oh no you don't!" answered Gilbert, shouting back. "If that's your final answer, I'm finished talking to you!"

He started walking towards Little Al, who retreated a few steps back, up the stairs. He knew that Gilbert Beilschmidt was far stronger and more experienced than he was.

"Give me that hat and stop being difficult – you're getting on my nerves," said Gilbert, glaring.

"Come and get it!" shouted Al, but he was running out of time and places to run.

"The keys," whispered the donkey lord hurriedly from above him.

"The keys?" repeated Little Al, and then saw the keys hanging from the wizard's belt. He understood. He couldn't fight Gilbert Beilschmidt. But Lord Edelstein could.

Gilbert saw his stare and laughed. "You think I'd just give you the keys?"

Al bit his lip but Gilbert continued. "And just so you know, that ancient donkey up there may have been strong once, but he's been sitting in that room for almost three years. There's no way he could beat me. And neither can you, you sapling, so surrender now or join me."

Donkey Lord Edelstein smacked his hooves against the windowsil. "Run! Just leave me and go!"

But Al raised his eyes to look at Gilbert Beilschmidt, who had stopped a few metres away from him. "Trust," he mumbled.

"What?" asked Beislchmidt.

Al jumped forwards, raising his hooves ready to hit Gilbert Beilschmidt. "I'll trust myself!" he shouted.

Beilschmidt was startled, but recovered in time to counter. Al flew back onto the stairs and hit his leg on a corner.

"Stop!" cried the donkey lord.

But Gilbert glared up at him. "Shut up! I'll deal with you later!"

"You can't," Little Al mumbled suddenly, and got shakily to his feet.

"What did you say?" asked Beischmidt.

"Why didn't you just kill the donkey lord before?" Al asked quietly, and carefully leant on his hurt leg. "Why did you have to imprison him if you didn't need him for anything?"

Beilschmidt's eyes narrowed. "That's none of your business."

"Was it because you couldn't kill him?" continued Al.

Before Glbert could reply, they heard a voice: "There he is!"

Beilschmidt turned around.

It was Arthur Kirkland, followed by the Hidinglanders, who were climbing up the rocks onto the island to help Little Al. "We're not afraid of your potions, Gilbert!"

"Oh you're not?" asked the mule wizard, and he took the bottle and, laughing, threw it towards Little Al, who gasped, stumbling backwards on the stairs and trying to cover himself.

"It's a ball, Al!" Matt shouted suddenly, and Al's heart moved as he remembered how he had once played with Matt and his mother. He had been protecting the goal and his mother had passed Matt with the ball. Now the ball was flying towards him and...

Bling!

He raised his hoof just in time to kick the bottle back. It was lucky it didn't break. But now the bottle was flying towards Matt, who whined and retreated backwards.

Bling!

The rose lord was suddenly standing in front of the puppy and his net danced in the air. Francis mumbled something, and when his movements stopped, the bottle was gone. Instead they saw a glass rose in the net, glimmering from Francis' magic.

And Gilbert, who was staring at Bonnefoy, didn't notice Little Al run at him until he tackled him. They both fell over and, after a moment of wrestling, Little Al was thrown backwads again.

"Give it up!" shouted Gilbert as he stood up. "There's no way you can beat me!"

But Al smiled contentedly and raised his hoof. He waved the keys in front of the mule lord.

"Eh?" said Gilbert in confusion.

But he didn't have time to form a coherent sentence because he then heard growling behind him, and suddenly Denny and Berwald attacked him. Beilschmidt fought back just as ferociously, and showed everyone how fierce he could be when he wanted to. The dogs climbed on him, biting him, and Tino and Nor attacked Gilbert's legs and made him fall over. Then a strange-looking bird flew down to Gilbert and started pecking and flapping its wings against his face.

Ice smiled and said tenderly. "Good work, Puffin."

"Okay," said Gilbert grasping the situation and looked into the eyes of the three lift cats, who were now standing on his chest and hissing. The dogs from the inn were holding him down. "This is unfair."

Arthur laughed. "Look at you now, Gilbert! Are you feeling all right? You don't look so good."

"You shut up!" the wizard shouted back at him, only to find Kiku's claws on his cheek half a second later, and then the brown lift cat began to stare at him intensely. That made Gilbert feel a little uneasy and he shut up.

Arthur Kirkland's eyes were shining green and he waved his hands again. "Hurray! Well done, lads! You did it!"

The Hidinglanders seconded his shout, and the whole shore was suddenly full of laughing and rejoicing donkeys, dogs and cats.

But then Donkey Lady Héderváry raised her hooves and everyone quieted down. Al raised the keys in his hoof and slid one of them into the tower door...

And what happened then?

You'll find out next time...

* * *

A/N: Hello again.

The guard fox: Was not in the OS.

Al's and Gil's battle: They battled only once, after the Hidinglanders came. The mule-lord lost almost immediately and proved to be a coward. It didn't sound like Prussia so I edited it a bit. The scene is longer in other parts as well, I don't think I left any part exactly the way it was. But basically it still follows the OS.

The lift cats: Were not in this chapter.

Thank you Hazel, you're a sweetheart.


	20. Part 20 Roderich Edelstein

**Part 20/20**

**Roderich Edelstein**

Everyone stood still and waited anxiously. Al had gone into the tower and disappeared up the stairs. Lady Héderváry tapped her hoof against the ground quietly and everyone shivered. Feliks touched her hooves gently, trying to calm her down.

Then the crowd raised its voice to the clouds as Little Al appeared from the stairs again, the Donkey Lord Edelstein following him with his straw hat back on his head. Al was blushing and the donkey lord seemed ready to cry. But he didn't.

"My dear people," he said to them, smiling. Then he saw the donkey lady.

Lady Héderváry smiled to him herself, happy enough to cry. But she didn't either.

Lord Edelstein knelt in front of her and held her hoof lovingly and kissed it. "Elizabeta. Are you all right?"

Elizabeta chuckled a little. "It was you who had problems, silly."

"Good," Roderich rose and hugged her tightly. "Because I didn't know what had happened to you."

"You didn't know all this time?" asked Elizabeta, suprised.

"No," the lord answered quietly. "I didn't." Then he let go of her and straightened up.

Mother Donkey grabbed his hoof. "Do you know who saved you, dear?"

Roderich turned to Al, who felt nervous. "I must say I don't. Who are you, my little saviour?"

"He's your son," answered Lady Héderváry, sounding proud.

"My... son?" repeated Lord Edelstein, surprised, and he looked back at Little Al, who moved restlessly, unsure of what to say or do. But he didn't have to do anything because Roderich came to him, smiling softly. "Then I think it's okay for me to hold you too." And he lifted Al in his arms and hugged him strongly but birds of the donkey lord came closer and flew around them, greeting their master with joy. And Lord Edelstein whispered something very simple, but Al, who had been waiting for these words for so long, felt tears in his eyes. "Thank you, my son."

When he let Little Al go, Lady Héderváry started to tell him and everyone else the whole story of their journey. When she had finished and the crowd had stopped clapping, they all decided to go back to the Kolkolkol Coast where Ivan Braginski and the silver guardians were waiting for their return with the foxes. The royalty stepped into the boat with Little Al's friends and Im Yong Soo switched the Gustpuffer on. The others got back onto their logs or tables or just jumped into the water to swim. Arthur Kirkland and Francis Bonnefoy took the sulking Gilbert Beilschmidt and the unconscious guard fox with them and pulled them on a piece of wood.

When they reached the Kolkolkol Coast, there waiting for them was the whole army of foxes under strict observation by the silver guardians. When they came ashore, Natalia and Katyusha were there to greet them, and the Windsorcerer himself landed after riding on a gust of wind down from Laughing Hill, saying "hello, your majesty" to the donkey lord. Gilbert Beilschmidt went to his subordinates and Ludwig and Lili greeted him.

"May I guess that you lost?" asked Ludwig.

"I didn't!" answered Gilbert, sitting huffily down on the sand. "I made a tactical retreat."

"Oh, I see," answered First Captain Ludwig, scratching his ear with his hindleg.

Lili chuckled. "I heard that Vash and his guards are sleeping in Hubbub Town. I hope he's having a good dream."

"Though he might be a little frustrated when he wakes up," said the tower guard, who rose and shook his head. "I must say that I don't really care what happens next. I've been alone on that island for long enough to get bored. Whatever happens next, it's gonna be more interesting."

"Silence!" Natalia's voice slashed the air and the foxes shut up.

Roderich Edelstein was standing in front of the foxes and Gilbert Beilschmidt, and he looked down at them strictly. Everyone quieted down and glared at Gilbert angrily. The mule looked somewhere to his right and refused to meet the donkey lord's eyes.

"Well then," said Lord Edelstein in the silence, speaking slowly and clearly. "What is to be done to Gilbert Beilschmidt?"

"What should we do to the man who disturbed the peace of Hidingland?" asked Matt too.

"What should we do to the man who imprisoned Lord Edelstein?" continued Black Cat Yao.

Immediately, chatter started rising around them as everyone demanded the wizard to undo the damage of his actions. The lift cats wanted to have their instruments back, preferably in one piece. The dogs of the inn wanted Gilbert to pay for the damage he had done to the town. Fox Witch Kirkland demanded the chocolate castle back for the mice, and Toris raised his voice to second that they wanted their home back.

"You can live here until you have your castle back," offered Braginski to the chocolate mice.

Eduard looked at the sorcerer bewildered. "Why here?"

Ivan smiled and petted Raivis gently. "Because you're cute."

And Antonio raised his voice too, because he wanted to know where the boats were hidden. And in a middle of this noise stood the donkey lord and his wife as they listened silently to the chatter. Gilbert Beilschmidt participated in the conversation only once.

"What?" he asked.

"I want my panda back," repeated the brown lift-cat, who sat on the tower guard's head and stared at the wizard.

"I don't have your–" Gilbert began but then stopped to think. He frowned and looked at Ludwig. "Do I have a panda?"

Ludwig sighed. "It should be in my room."

"Why in your room?"

The fox captain fixed his eyes on a spot in the sky. "You... told me to take good care of it..."

"No I didn't."

Ludwig blushed. "Yes you did..."

After some more arguing, the donkey lord raised his hooves to calm everyone down. "What about you, my little saviour? I will let you decide this matter."

Little Al, who had remained silent up until now, opened his mouth to say everything bad he had seen or heard Gilbert Beilschmidt do, but then he stopped to think for a while. He was angry at the mule, of course. But for some reason, when he looked at Beilschmidt, who was still refusing to look at the donkey lord, he felt somewhat sorry for him despite all the bad things he had done. He turned to face his father. "I don't think we should be too strict. Could we just... send them away? We can manage here by ourselves, repair everything and all. Besides, now we have you, dad," he said, trying to sound as sure as always, but something about Lord Edelstein made him act shy.

Roderich smiled and turned to look at Gilbert. "Then forgiving is out of the question, I guess."

For a first time now Gilbert looked him, surprised, and Roderich continued. "That would be the strictest way to punish you, am I right?" Without waiting for an answer he turned. "Fox Witch Kirkland and Rose Lord Bonnefoy."

"Yes?" Arthur reported for duty and gave up trying to make Ivan to give his mice back.

"May we help you, mon chér?" Francis appeared at the witch's side and put his hand on the other's shoulder jovially, although Arthur glared him.

"I want you to send Gilbert Beilschmidt and his foxes, preferably including the ones in Hubbub Town, to other side of this sea," Lord Edelstein told them before turning to look at the foxes. "We will send them away, just as Alfred decided."

"Then I would like to.." Gilbert looked embarrassed but he continued quietly. "Ask you a favour..."

Roderich looked surprised and smiled a little. "What might that be?" Al wondered how he could smile at the man that had imprisoned him.

"My–" the mule stuttered. "My little birds. I would like to have... my chicks with me too."

Ludwig smiled and turned to the donkey lord. "They're in the castle garden. There are five of them."

"If it's only that..." Lord Edelstein turned to look at the magicians. "Kirkland. Bonnefoy. If you please."

Arthur Kirkland seemed to like this order, because he smiled widely and stepped in front of the prisoners cracking his forepaws. "No problem. But I can't send someone I can't see," he looked at his fellow magician. "Can you?"

Francis shook his head. "We'll send the rest when we arrive in the capital, sire."

"I could bring them here," offered the Windsorcerer petting the chocolate mice. "A tornado or two should do the trick."

"No thank you," sighed the donkey lord. "You haven't changed since we last met, have you Ivan?"

But Arthur and Francis were already doing their combination spell so everyone shut up. Witch Kirkland and Lord Bonnefoy had closed their eyes, and as they concentrated on joining their powers, the air hummed quietly around them.

Then, suddenly, Arthur broke his hypnosis and turned to Francis, blushing. "No! I won't do that!"

"Huh?" asked everyone, including Gilbert and the foxes.

Francis turned to him and the humming stopped. "What's wrong, dear? You don't like it? And you don't have to shout like that, we can use telepathy when our magic combines, remember."

"I know that!" yelled the fox witch. "But that's not the point! I won't do that! It's _embarrassing_!"

"But you do want to help Lord Edelstein, right? We can't let our lord down now, mon chéri."

"Well uh..." Arthur wriggled and then sighed. "Okay, but this better be the last time..."

They started their humming again and a dark blue smoke started gathering around the prisoners. It tied them together and slowly they rose into air.

"Huphurlup," said Francis, raising his wand. He looked at the witch, who blushed.

"Huphurlup..." mumbled Arthur, embarrassed, taking out his own wand.

With a swing of the magicians' wands, Gilbert Beilschmidt flew over the sea with his subordinates. It was the last time they were seen in Hidingland.

And what happened then?

You'll find out next time...

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the delated update. Now, this chapter again:

1. You'll find out next time and 20/20: there's still an epilogue. It might tell something about the length of this chapter because it was all in one chapter in the OS.

2. What's new: Roderich and Elisabeta's hug, anything including Australia, neither Gilbert nor Ivan said anything in this chapter, Arthur and Ivan's fight over the chocolate mice, obviously there was no panda and finally, Arthur and Francis' quarrel in the end. Plus some other minorities, but here the important ones. Oh, and the donkey-lord didn't say anything about forgiving.

These are all my selfish extras, all glory to Lea. So pretty much this time.

Thank you for the readers once again.


	21. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Vash sighed. "Keep a dog and bark yourself. Those useless idiots..." he shooed the yellow chicks away from his head. The birds had made his head and ears their nest.

"Don't be so sad, leader," said the blue-clad vixen beside him. "Here, have a herring."

"Aren't ya confusing "sad" with "mad" here, Chel? And why on Earth've you got a herring?" asked one of the guards, and then suddenly he saw Matt. He came closer and looked at the puppy carefully. "Wasn't it you who stole my hat?"

Matt remembered the guard fox Yao had been working for. He wondered for a moment what he should say before answering: "Thank you for lending it to me."

The fox looked at him in surprise and then sighed. "You're welcome, kid," he went back to the other foxes, who were waiting to be transported to their comrades. "I hope it was useful."

"You're breaking the code," Chel noted. "One musn't be friendly with the enemy."

"So?"

"Leader can hear you."

"I don't care," answered Vash, leaning his muzzle on the ground and snorting. He gave up trying to make the birds leave him alone. "Can we just get on with this?"

"Francis said that he can't participate without first brushing his mane so we have to wait for that bastard," anwered Fox Witch Kirkland, also snorting. "And that leaves me stuck here with you guys when I could be helping make food for tonight!"

"Wise decicion of him then," Chel mumbled to the wall.

"I stayed with you," Matt reminded him. "Or did you forget me already?"

Kirkland sighed. "No, I didn't. Sorry. But I still think I have better things to be doing than waiting for that old frog to shine his hooves. Damnit, he's definitely doing this on purpose."

The blue-clad vixen looked at him, offering her paw. "Herring?"

Sigh. "No, thank you."

.*** *** ***

That night was busy for everyone. The city had to be cleaned and every remaining beer-dreamer had to be woken up. The most difficult part was cleaning the castle, but somehow they made it in time for the huge party the donkey lord had organised for everyone. The residents of Hidingland gathered into the castle to celebrate the return of their ruler and enjoy all the tasty food that was brought from all over the country as fast as possible. Huge tables were set all over the castle and even out on the streets, and everyone joined in the general rejoicing. But only water was offered to drink.

And now the Hidinglanders had a brand new prince to celebrate too, and everyone wanted to talk to Little Al and hear about his adventures. Al, however, was more dedicated to eating the oranges he was now tasting for the first time in his young life. He stuffed so many of them into his mouth that Yao and Matt had to stop him from eating more before something bad happened. Fox Witch Kirkland sat next to the sovereigns near Lady Héderváry and talked with her for the whole evening.

A reddish moon had risen high and the celebrations were at their highest peak when Lord Edelstein rose from his chair. He was wearing his own straw hat and a mantle had been draped around his shoulders. The lift-cats raised their guitars and everyone started singing a happy, beautiful song that hadn't been heard for a long time: their national anthem. When the song ended, the donkey lord thanked everyone and called everyone who had aided Little Al on his journey before him.

"To show my gratitude to all of you who helped my son on his journey, I will now reward you to prove your irreplaceable role in this story," lord Edelstein said, and lady Héderváry waved to a few young cats who brought a platter that was full of platinum ear medals that looked like little white flowers.

Im Yong Soo got a medal. And Puppy Matt and Black Cat Yao too and the lift-cats and the dogs of the inn, Crow Gupta and Gossip Mouse Feliks and the silver guardians and the Windsorcerer, Fox Witch Kirkland and Rose Lord Bonnefoy and the leaders of the chocolate mice. Elder Antonio and the granny donkeys had the golden cross of merit and the birds of the donkey lord had an extra share of seeds laid out for them in the moonlit garden of the palace.

To Lady Héderváry the donkey lord gave a huge bouquet of roses, presented by the Rose Lord and a flower-shaped hairclip for her mane. He also gave her, to everyone's surprise, a frying pan, but since the donkey lady laughed at her present and hugged his husband to thank him, everyone assumed it was just a joke between the two of them.

The last one to be rewarded was Little Al. He was called to the table and suddenly he felt something being put on his head. Al realised that now he had his own straw hat.

The donkey lord smiled. "Here you can see my son and heir. He himself has earned his position with his small but brave heart. Let this heart always beat to the rythm of this country and make it the place we all want to live in or come back to even after time has passed. Long live the prince Little Alfred of Hidingland!

After this, everyone came to Little Al and patted him and kissed him. Fox Witch Kirkland raised him onto his shoulders and carried him around the hall to meet everyone. Al's new hat slipped from his head, but Matt appeared beside him, riding on the shoulder of Rose Lord Bonnefoy (who was dressing like a man for the occasion) and straightened it for him.

Finally, after his tour around the huge room, Little Al opened his mouth to speak. "Without my friends I couldn't have done a thing. Thank you all for helping me. Hurray!"

And once again the cry of joy made Hidingland shiver. The party continued all through the night until the morning. But a little while before the sunrise, Lord Edelstein and Lady Héderváry carried tired Little Al to his own new bed. And in his sleepy head, Al noticed how they both leaned over to tuck him in and kiss him goodnight.

Little Al heaved a sigh and closed his eyes. "Home, sweet home," he mumbled and fell asleep.

When morning came, it found all the residents of Hidingland still sleeping. But soon they would wake up and restart their lives in the kingdom ruled by Donkey Lord Roderich Edelstein and Donkey Lady Elizabeta Héderváry and live their lives happily ever after. The happiest of them is the young donkey prince, who now has his own straw hat to wear on his head and both mother and father to raise him and love him.

.

Here ends the story of Little Al of Hidingland.

* * *

A/N: Thank you for everyone.

For the last time, about this chapter:

1. The beginning with the "villains" is a completely new scene

and

2. There was no frying pan =)

Otherwise, this goes relatively according to the OS, excluding that this all was originally in the part 20. Anyway, thank you so much for all of you again.

Hazel, I owe you the internet.

* * *

The list of characters (in case you didn't recognise someone =D):

*(character name) chapter(s)/20 + epilogue = Appears in the story

The main party:

Little Al of Hidingland – America (Alfred F. Jones) 1-13,15,17-20/20 + epilogue

Puppy Matt – Canada (Matthew Williams) 1-7,9-12,17-20/20 + epilogue

Pitch-Black Cat Yao – China (Wang Yao) 2-7,9-13,15,17-20/20 + epilogue

Mother Donkey/Donkey Lady Héderváry – Hungary (Elizabeta Héderváry) 1,6-7,9-13,15,17-20/20 + epilogue

Im Yong Soo – Korea (Im Yong Soo) 4,6-7,9-13,15,17-18,20/20 + epilogue

Elder Donkey Antonio – Spain (Antonio Fernandez Carriedo) 6-7,9-13,15,17-18,20/20 + epilogue

The Hubbub Town residents:

The lift-cat I – Japan (Honda Kiku, the black lift-cat) 3-4,14,16,19/20 + epilogue (as part of the group)

The lift-cat II – Taiwan (the female lift-cat) 3-4,14,16/20 + epilogue (as part of the group)

The lift-cat III – Hong Kong (the brown lift-cat) 4,14,16,19-20/20 + epilogue (as part of the group)

Denny the innkeeper – Denmark ("Den"/"Denny") 5,8,14,16,19/20 + epilogue (as part of the group)

The dog from the inn I – Finland (Tino) 5,8,16,19/20 + epilogue (as part of the group)

The dog from the inn II – Sweden (Berwald) 5,8,16,19/20 + epilogue (as part of the group)

The dog from the inn III – Norway ("Nor") 5,8,16,19/20 + epilogue (as part of the group)

The dog from the inn IV – Iceland ("Ice") 5,8,16,19/20 + epilogue (as part of the group)

Ice's bird – Puffin 5,19/20

The granny donkey I – Turkey (Sadiq Adnan) 14,16/20 + epilogue (as a half of a pair)

The granny donkey II – Greece (Herakles Karpusi) 14,16/20 + epilogue (as a half of a pair)

The helpers along the way:

Rose Lord/Lady Bonnefoy – France (Francis "Francois" Bonnefoy) 10,16,18-20/20 + epilogue

The Rose Lord's maid – Belgium ("Bel") 10/20

Crow Gupta – Egypt (Gupta Muhammad Hassan) 8,11,14,16/20 + epilogue

The chocolate mouse I – Estonia (Eduard von Bock) 12-13,15,18,20/20 + epilogue

The chocolate mouse II – Lithuania (Toris Lorinaitis) 12-13,15,18,20/20 + epilogue

The chocolate mouse III – Latvia (Raivis Galantis) 12-13,15,18,20/20 + epilogue

The silver guardian captain – Belarus (Natalia Arlovskaya) 17-20/20

The silver guardian vice captain – Ukraine (Katyusha) 17-18,20/20

The Windsorcerer – Russia (Ivan Braginski) 18,20/20 + epilogue

The "villains":

Mule Lord Beilschmidt – Prussia (Gilbert Beilschmidt) 1,5,7-8,14-20/20

The fox captain I – Germany (Ludwig) 3-5,8,13,18,20/20

The fox captain II – Liechtenstein ("Lili") 14-18,20/20

The head guard fox – Switzerland (Vash Swingli) 2-3,6,8,14/20 + epilogue

Yao's ex-boss – Cuba 2,8/20 + epilogue

The blue-clad vixen – Seychelles ("Chel") 3/20 + epilogue

The fox guarding the beer barrel I – North Italy (Feliciano Vargas) 9/20

The fox guarding the beer barrel II – South Italy (Lovino Vargas) 9/20

The fox guarding the tower – Australia, 19-20/20

The "ex-villains":

Fox Witch Kirkland – England (Arthur Kirkland) 12-13,15-16,18-20/20 + epilogue

Gossip Mouse Feliks – Poland (Feliks Łukasiewicz) 7-8,11-12,17,20/20 + epilogue

Others:

Donkey Lord Edelstein – Austria (Roderich Edelstein) 1,19-20/20 + epilogue

The green-clad donkey – Vietnam, 10/20

The fox witch's raven I – Northern Ireland ("Noire") 15,17/20

The fox witch's raven II – Scotland ("Scott") 15,17/20

The fox witch's raven III – Wales ("Ales") 15,17/20

The fox witch's dragon – Sealand (Peter Kirkland) 15-16/20

Shadow that follows Al & co. in the town – Hungary (Elizabeta Héderváry) 4-5/20


End file.
